For, save himself, no living thing
Was by the silent haunted spring.
The purple heath-bells, blooming fair,
Their fragrance round did fling,
As the hunter lay,
At close of day,
Down by the haunted spring.
A lady fair, in robe of white,
To greet the hunter came.
She kissed a cup with jewels bright,
And pledged him by his name.
"O lady fair," the hunter cried,
"Be thou my love, my blooming bride,— A bride that well might grace a king! Fair lady of the haunted spring."
In the fountain clear she stooped,
And forth she drew a ring;
And that loved knight
His faith did plight,
Down by the haunted spring.
But since that day his chase did stray,
The hunter ne'er was seen,
And legends tell, he now doth dwell
Within the hills so green.
But still the milk-white doe appears,
And wakes the peasant's evening fears,
While distant bugles faintly ring
Around the lonely haunted spring.
DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH FORETOLD.
LUCIFER. 'Tis earth shall lead destruction; she shall end. The stars shall wonder why she comes no more On her accustomed orbit, and the sun
Miss one of his apostle lights; the moon,
An orphan orb, shall seek for earth for aye,
Through time's untrodden depths, and find her not;
No more shall morn, out of the holy east,
Stream o'er the amber air her level light;
Nor evening, with the spectral fingers, draw
Her star-sprent curtain round the head of earth;
Her footsteps never thence again shall grace
The blue sublime of Heaven. Her grave is dug.
I see the stars, night-clad, all gathering
In long and sad procession. Death's at work.
And, one by one, shall all yon wandering worlds,
Whether in orbed path they roll, or trail,
In an inestimable length of light,
Their golden train of tresses after them,
Cease; and the sun, centre and sire of light,
The keystone of the world-built arch of Heaven,
Be left in burning solitude. The stars,
Which stand as thick as dewdrops on the fields
Of Heaven, and all they comprehend, shall pass.
The spirits of all worlds shall all depart
To their great destinies; and thou and I,
Greater in grief than worlds, shall live as now.
In hell's dark annals there is something writ,
Which shall amaze man yet. There! to thy earth!
ANGEL OF EARTH. There is a blind world, yet unlit by
Rolling around the extremest edge of light;
Where all things are disaster and decay,
The outcast of all being; no one thing
Fitting another: that is fit for thee.
Be that thy world, but not the living earth.
Stretch forth Thy shining shield, O God! the Heavens,
Over the prostrate earth, an armed friend,
And save her from the swift and violent hell
Her beauty hath enchanted! from the wrath
Of love like his, O save her, though by death!
GOD. Destruction and salvation are the hands
Upon the face of time. When both unite,
Every orb exists
Unto its preappointed end: and earth,
The day of death dawns.
My creature, the elect of worlds, ere all
Is saved. The world shall perish as a worm
Upon destruction's path; the universe
Evanish like a ghost before the sun,
Yea, like a doubt before the truth of God;
Yet nothing more than death shall perish. Then
Rejoice, ye souls of God regenerate,
Ye indwellers divine of Deity;
In Him ye are immortal as Himself.
Is Heaven a place where pearly streams
Glide over silver sand?
Like childhood's rosy dazzling dreams
Of some far faery land?
Is Heaven a clime where diamond dews
Glitter on fadeless flowers?
And mirth and music ring aloud
From amaranthine bowers?
Ah no! not such, not such is Heaven!
Surpassing far all these;
Such cannot be the guerdon given
Man's wearied soul to please.
For saint and sinner here below
Such vain to be have proved :
And the pure spirit will despise
Whate'er the sense hath loved.
There we shall dwell with Sire and Son,
And with the mother-maid,
And with the Holy Spirit, one:
In glory like arrayed:
And not to one created thing
Shall our embrace be given;
But all our joy shall be in God,
For only God is Heaven.
GRANT us, O God! that in Thy holy love
The universal people of the world
May grow more great and happy every day;
Mightier, wiser, humbler, too, towards Thee.
And that all ranks, all classes, callings, states
Of life, so far as such seem right to Thee,
May mingle into one, like sister trees,
And so in one stem flourish ;-that all laws
And powers of government be based and used
In good and for the people's sake ;—that each
May feel himself of consequence to all,
And act as though all saw him;-that the whole
The mass of every nation may so do
As is most worthy of the next to God;
For a whole people's souls, each one worth more
Than a mere world of matter, make combined,
A something godlike-something like to Thee.
We pray Thee for the welfare of all men.
Let monarchs who love truth and freedom feel
The happiness of safety and respect
From those they rule, and guardianship from Thee.
Let them remember they are set on thrones
As representatives, not substitutes
Of nations, to implead with God and man.
Let tyrants who hate truth, or fear the free,
Know that to rule in slavery and error,
For the mere ends of personal pomp and power,
Is such a sin as doth deserve a hell
To itself sole. Let both remember, Lord!
They are but things like-natured with all nations;
That mountains issue out of plains, and not
Plains out of mountains, and so likewise kings
Are of the people, not the people of kings.
And let all feel, the rulers and the ruled,
All classes and all countries, that the world
Is Thy great halidom; that Thou art King,
Lord! only owner and possessor. Grant
That nations may now see, it is not kings,
Nor priests, they need fear so much as themselves;
That if they keep but true to themselves, and free,
Sober, enlightened, godly-mortal men
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