No. II.

THE perish'd leaf, the pining flower,
The tints of Autumn, thrown
In pensive ruin o'er some bower

Where gay spring-buds have grown;

The falt'ring wave, the feeble cloud,
That faints like thought away;
With Nature's warning, unavow'd,
Predict our own decay!

Ah! who can look adown that vale
Where wither'd hours repose;

Or listen to the warning tale
Of life's recurring woes,—

Nor feel within the spirit's core
A pang of mute regret,
For feelings that exult no more,
For joy, whose sun is set !

Yes, Lady! in this life of dreams
My heart has still a share;
And still around my fancy beams
The wreck of visions fair ;-

But hollow laugh, and heartless smile,
And tones of mirth untrue,

Can barely mock my soul awhile,

And veil it from thy view.

Another to the countless mass

Of spirits who have fled,-
I add my sigh, as on I pass
To regions of the dead!

SONG OF THE ANGELIC CHOIR.

'THOU Lord of Lords, and Light of Light! Who hath empyreal glory bright,

Art seated on th' Eternal Throne
Invisibly, the vast Alone!—

Ten thousand worlds around Thee blaze,
Ten thousand harps repeat Thy praise,
Yet hymn, nor harp, nor song divine,
Nor myriad orbs created thine,
This measureless display of love
To earth below, and heaven above,
By their immingled power could tell,-
That ends the Curse, and conquers Hell!
Oh! never, never-since we came
On wing of light and form of flame,
Like mingling harmonies that rise
In glorious swell along the skies,
Have Angels known entrancing bliss
Unfathomably deep as this !—
For, lo! the manger where He lies,
A world-redeeming Sacrifice :
Peace on earth! to Man good will!
Let the skies our anthem fill!

Hail, Virgin-born! transcendant Child! Of mortal semblance, undefiled,

By ages vision'd, doom'd to be
The star of immortality!

Hail! Prince of Peace, and Lord of Light!
Around Thy path the world is bright;
Where'er Thou tread'st, an Eden blooms,
And earth forgets her myriad tombs!
Thy voice is heard—and anguish dies,
The dead awake and greet the skies!
Lo! blindness melts in healing rays,
And mute lips ope in hymns of praise;
The famish'd on Thy bounty feed,
While myriads at Thy summons speed,
To live upon Salvation's strain,
And see the lost restored again;
Peace on earth! to Man good will!
Let the skies our anthem fill!

'Awake, awake, thou ransom'd Earth!
And, smiling with a second birth,
In loveliness awake and shine,
Thy King is come, Salvation thine !-
Surpassing orb! of old we sang,
While starry hymns accordant rang,
When rising from chaotic gloom
Thy sphere outburst in light and bloom!
But louder strains of loftier note

Around thee now shall swell and float,
Melodiously to celebrate

A brighter doom and better state.

The winds are rock'd in holy rest,
The waves asleep on ocean's breast,
And beautiful the boundless calm,
O'er nature spread, like midnight balm,-
For lo! the manger where He lies,
A world-redeeming Sacrifice;

The Promised, since the world began,
To live and die for guilty man.

For Heaven shall burst the gates of Hell!

A vision of uncounted years,

That travel on through toil and tears,

Is all unroll'd in wild extent,

Like ocean's heaving element !

But soon the demon storm hath pass'd,
Messiah rules in light at last!
The sunbeams of a sabbath-day
Around adoring myriads play;

From north to south, from east to west,
All pangs are hush'd, all hearts at rest!
Pacific homes, Atlantic isles,

Where earth extends, or ocean smiles;
The rudest spot which man can own,
Shall hail Messiah on His throne,
And human life, by land and sea,
One alter build, oh God! to Thee,
While men and angels round it throng,
To chant the sempiternal song,-
Peace on earth! to Man good will!
Let the skies our anthem fill!'

STANZAS.

1

THE hour is past, the pleasure o'er,
And dumb the harp and glee;
Young feet no longer trip the floor,
Alive with melody!

2

Those fairy brows, those forms of love,
That wake the poet's sigh,-

Like shapes who leave their bowers above,
To charm a human eye;

3

All, all are gone! the lights have fled

From your deserted room;

Dim as a chamber of the dead,

And voiceless as the tomb!

4

And now I am alone again,
With feelings undefined;
A pilgrim in a world of pain,
An unpartaken mind.

5

The silent walk, the sickly moon,

And melancholy sky,

Yes, these will make me feel how soon

The hours of beauty fly!