What cruel answer have I heard?
And yet, by Heaven, I love thee still;
Can aught be cruel from thy lip?
Yet say how fell that bitter word
From lips which streams of sweetness fill,
Which naught but drops of honey sip?

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,
Whose accents flow with artless ease,
Like Orient pearls at random strung:
Thy notes are sweet, the damsels say;
But oh, far sweeter if they please

II.

I WOULD NOT SHRINK.

I WOULD not shrink if some dear ghost,
One of the dead's unnumbered host,
Should rise in silence of the night
Shrined in an aureole of light
And pale as snowdrop in the frost.

No! If the brother loved and lost
For me the silent river crossed,
For me left worlds all fair and bright,
I would not shrink.

sung.

Translation of SIR WILLIAM JONES.

Dear would the dead be to my sight:

A vision from the other coast Of one on earth I cherished most Would be a measureless delight; I would not shrink.

CHARLES D. BEIL.

THE GOLDEN RINGLET.

HERE is a little golden tress

Of soft unbraided hair, The all that's left of loveliness That once was thought so fair; And yet, though time hath dimmed its sheen,

Though all beside hath fled,
I hold it here, a link between
My spirit and the dead.

Yes, from this shining ringlet stiil
A mournful memory springs
That melts my heart and sheds a thrill

Through all its trembling strings:
I think of her, the loved, the wept,
Upon whose forehead fair

For eighteen years like sunshine slept
This golden curl of hair.

MIN

But the shadows of eve that encompass the

gloom,

The abode of the dead and the place of the tomb.

Shall we build to Ambition? Oh no! Affrighted, he shrinketh away;

For see! they would pin him below In a small narrow cave, and, begirt with cold clay, To the meanest of reptiles a peer and a

To Beauty? Ah, no! she forgets

A willowy brook that turns a mill,
With many a fall, shall linger near.

The swallow oft beneath my thatch
Shall twitter from her clay-built nest;
Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch

And share my meal, a welcome guest.

Around my ivied porch shall spring

Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew, And Lucy at her wheel shall sing

gown and apron blue.

In russet gown

a prey.

Nor knows the foul worm that he frets The skin which but yesterday fools could adore

For the smoothness it held or the tint which it wore.

Shall we build to the purple of Pride, The trappings which dizen the proud? Alas! they are all laid aside,

And here's neither dress nor adornment allowed

But the long winding-sheet and the fringe of the shroud.

To Riches? Alas! 'tis in vain : Who hid, in their turn have been hid;

The treasures are squandered again, And here in the grave are all metals forbid But the tinsel that shines on the dark coffinlid.

To the pleasures which Mirth can afford, The revel, the laugh and the jeer?

Ah! here is a plentiful board!

But the guests are all mute as their pitiful

cheer,

And none but the worm is a reveller here.

Shall we build to Affection and Love?

Ah, no! they have withered and died,

Or fled with the spirit above;

His only thought how best himself to please. Of richest wines he had an endless store: These are his pride, and oft as lovingly

side,

replied.

Unto Sorrow? The dead cannot grieve; Not a sob, not a sigh, meets mine ear

Which compassion itself could relieve. Ah! sweetly they slumber, nor hope, love

nor fear:

"Peace, peace!" is the watchword-the only

one here.

Unto Death, to whom monarchs must bow? Ah, no! for his empire is known,

And here there are trophies enow: Beneath, the cold dead, and around, the

dark stone,

So great his wealth it hourly groweth more.

A little luck, a little keen address,
A little kindly help in time of need,
A little industry and touch of greed,
Have made his life a singular success,
And he asks homage for his splendid gains,
Paying the flattery in meats and drinks;
Applauding friends he daily entertains,
To ease him of himself. Sometimes he
thinks

If he were poor his friends might love him

less.

disown.

HERBERT KNOWLES.

ALONE.

SO Reginald is still a bachelor,

his ease,

No care could guard the lover's heart.