Poor foolish child! how pleased was I And see the lighted windows flame! The people's shouts were long and loud: My mother answered with her tears. "What is an orphan boy?" I cried, As in her face I looked and smiled; Oh, were I by your bounty fed- - Mrs. Opie. THE PINE FOREST BY THE SEA. THE PINE FOREST BY THE SEA. WE wandered to the pine forest The whisp'ring waves were half asleep, And on the bosom of the deep The smile of heaven lay. It seemed as if the hour were one Which scattered from above the sun We paused amid the pines that stooa And soothed by every azure breath 63 How calm it was! the silence there The breath of peace we drew, With its soft motion, made not less The calm that round us grew. There seemed, from the remotest seat Of the wide mountain waste, To the soft flower beneath our feet, A magic circle traced; THE PINE FOREST BY THE SEA. And still I felt the centre of The magic circle there, Was one fair form that filled with love We paused beside the pools that lie A firmament of purple light, In which the massy forests grew, More perfect both in shape and hue Like one beloved, the scene had lent Its every leaf and lineament With that clear truth expressed. There lay far glades and neighbouring lawn, Sweet views, which in our world above Were imaged by the water's love And all was interfused beneath An atmosphere without a breath, Until a wandering wind crept by, Which from my mind's too faithful eye For thou art good and dear and kind, But less of peace in S's mind -Shelley. 65 THE MINSTREL. THE way was long, the wind was cold, The unpremeditated lay. Old times were changed, old manners gone, The bigots of the Iron time Had called his harmless art a crime ! -Sir W. Scott. |