"The storm is fast subsiding,

The boisterous winds are o'er, Thy barque is gently gliding

To Heaven's delightful shore.

"Look to the far horizon,

Behold yon mountains stand! Do they not mark the boundary Of some fair happy land?

"Behold life's mist dispersing, The land is full in view;

I soon shall land in safety;
Life's troubled sea, adieu!"

THE CAPTIVE.

H! leave me yet awhile

Within this lonely cell;

I would not change its awful gloom For the court where monarchs dwell.

Forbear to loose those chains,

For they are dear to me;

Nor take away their bloody stains,
The price of liberty.

The heaviest fetters borne

Can never take away

The freedom of the mind,

Which is true liberty.

Ah! leave me to my dreams,

In which I often see

The land where truth triumphant reigns,

Sweet land of liberty.

EARTHLY PLEASURES NOT ABIDING.

HE longest day will have its night,
The brightest star will wane from sight,
The sweetest sounds will pass away,

Earth's choicest treasures soon decay.

Drink of earth's springs, they will soon be dry;
Let the heart be joyful, it soon will sigh;
Bid the happiest hours of life to stay,—
They pass as the showers of an April day.

Then drink of the springs which ever flow,
And seek the joys which purer grow,
And gather the flowers which ne'er decay,
But bloom in the realms of eternal day.

Sweet as the charms of youth may be,
They pass away with rapidity;
Like twinkling stars which brightly shone,
The clouds pass'd o'er, and all were gone.

Then set before thee an aim in life;

Fear not to enter the awful strife;

Let thy heart be fix'd in yon glorious sky,

Where flowers ne'er wither, and friends ne'er die.

Cease not to fight, nor the sword lay down,
Till the laurel-wreath and the golden crown
Are placed on thy head by the angel-band,
On the distant shores of the better land.

THE RIVER.

STOOD by the flowing river,
And watch'd its silvery stream
Gliding away in silence,

And passing like a dream ;

I follow'd its rapid current

On banks bedeck'd with flowers,

Then saw it wind, and curve, and bend,

Through vales, and scented bowers:

Like a prancing steed unbridled

It rush'd, with unconscious pride, Through the rocky, thorny dingle, Then down the mountain side;

It pass'd the stately mansion,

Where the great and high-born dwell,

And then it fiercely bounded

To the flowery, fairy dell;

It pass'd a rustic village

In its own meandering way,

Then watch'd the merry scenes of youth, On its banks, at the close of day ;—

It rested awhile in the peaceful lake,
Then over the level plain

It hasted away to the ocean wide,
Never to return again!

Oh! is not this life a river,

Flowing onward in mystery,

Through the ever-changing scenes of time To the sea of Eternity?