Page:The New Penelope.djvu/327

Rh I fear to trust; the ships I fear;

I see no isle of beauty near;

The sun is blotted out—no more

'T will shine for me on any shore."

Once more I said: "Be not afraid;

Yield to the storm without a dread;

For the tree, by tempests torn

From its native soil, is borne

Green, to where its ripened fruit

Gives a sturdy forest-root.

That which we lose, we think we choose,

Oft, from slavery to use.

Shocks that break our chains, tho' rude,

Open paths to highest good:

Wise, my sister soul, is she

Who takes of life the proffered key."

FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.

"Nay, Hylas, I have come

To where life's landscape takes a western slope,

And breezes from the occidental shores

Sigh thro' the thinning locks around my brow,

And on my cheeks fan flickering summer fires.

Oh, winged feet of Time, forget your flight,

And let me dream of those rose-scented bowers

That lapped my soul in youth's enchanted East!

It needs no demon-essence of Hasheesh

To flash that sunrise glory in my eyes!—

It needs no Flora to bring back those flowers—

No gay Apollo to sound liquid reeds—

No muse to consecrate the hills and streams—

No God or oracle within those groves