12 THE PROMISE OF CHILDHOOD. THE PROMISE OF CHILDHOOD. A ROSE-BUD by my early walk, Ere twice the shades o' dawn are fled, Within the bush, her covert nest She soon shall see her tender brood, So thou, dear bird, young Jeany fair, So thou, sweet rose-bud, young and gay, R. Burns. BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. THREE years she grew in sun and shower; This child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make "Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse: and with me The girl, in rock and plain, In earth and heaven, in glade and bower To kindle or restrain. "She shall be sportive as the fawn And her's shall be the breathing balm, "The floating clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see E'en in the motions of the storm Grace that shall mould the maiden's form 133 14 BLIGHTED IN THE BUD. "The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound "And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give While she and I together live Here in this happy dell." Thus Nature spake.-The work was done How soon my Lucy's race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been, And never more will be. William Wordsworth. BEREAVEMENT. 15 BEREAVEMENT. SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways A maid whom there were none to praise, A violet by a mossy stone She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and O! The difference to me! W. Wordsworth. 18 NIGHT AND DEATH. NIGHT AND DEATH. MYSTERIOUS Night! when our first parent knew This glorious canopy of light and blue? And lo! creation widened in man's view. That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind! Why do we then shun Death with anxious strife? If light can thus deceive, wherefore not life? J. Blanco White. |