XI. TRANSLATION. ÆNEID IV. 522-9.

'Twas night, and weary things through all the earth

Were tasting placid slumber; and the woods, And the fierce surface of the sea had rest;

-The hour when all the stars in middle lapse Are rolling, and the earth is still below; The cattle of the field, and the gay fowl, And all that in the liquid lake's expanse, Or in the tufted champaign, lives and dwells, All 'neath the still night-heaven lying asleep, Rested, forgetful of the toils of day.

XII. A VISION FOR A MAY NOON.

A LONG, long avenue of noble Trees,
Between whose feet, and shadowed by whose shade
A lucid tide, untroubled by the breeze,

To their dark boughs a watchful mirror made
And silvery voices through the verdant screen
Stealing, and trembling on the quiet flood;
And pauses of a sweeter hush between,
But broken by the softly-pulsing blood;
And maidens in a ring about a boy,
Where the tide ended in a grassy shelf;
Whose floating tresses 'twas his fond employ
To pleach with rosy garlands for himself,
And tap their dewy cheeks and kiss their lips,
And be as half a lover, half a brother,

And lead their eyes into a soft eclipse
With playful pressure, now one, now another;
Sometimes half veiling blue eyes with their lid
To see them shadowed through the filmy veil,
Now letting fiery orbs be semi-hid

In contrast with the enclosure lily-pale.

:

XIII. YESTERDAY.

YESTERDAY! 'tis past-'tis gone,
Life and Love so hurry on.

Love and Hope and Joy embracing!
Where is fled that band so gay?
Seraph's arms are interlacing,
Lo! they bear them far away:
Fitting portage! worthy freight!
Heaven is glad at guests so fair,
Music echoes in the air,
But the earth is desolate.

Yesterday I sate beside
Him I loved at eventide :
Calmly in the consecration
Of a hope attained with toil,
Love's strong thrill and exultation
Fell to silence and a smile:
I perceived the earth meanwhile
Rolling underneath my feet,

'Twas a motion strange and sweet; Films of shadow did beguile

Silly Eve of all her treasure;

Crimson larch-buds in the green

Lamped no more; no more were seen
Daisies set in merry measure,

Merry measure yet serene.

Low and lower sang the cuckoo,

Faint and fainter answered Echo :

All the while my love and I

Saw one sight, the sparkling sky;

Heard one sound, the night's still tread
Underfoot and overhead;

Felt one feeling, round, above,
Below, but most within,-'twas love.

There is a time when love is more
Than life; and there are some so free
From clogging earth's infirmity,
That their pure spirit bubbles o'er
This golden goblet of our flesh,
Alike at Morning clear and fresh,

And Noon, and Night; alone at Even,
When earth holds colloquy with heaven,
Comes such high mood to me;

But then, or if not only so,

Yet oftenest and with deepest glow.

Shadowy films stole one by one
Silly Eve's delight away;

Her bright crown that by her lay
(Woven wild flowers fair and gay),
Night first laid her hand upon,
Then as though in stealthy play,

Weighing by the impurpled rim
To the attendant seraphim,

Quick she gave the cirque, which they

To her treasure caves convey.

Grass grew brown that had been green;
Hawthorn buds retired to keep
Pensive watch or quieter sleep;
In the meadow that had been
As a joyous congregation,
For its stirring eager glee,
Silence with the adumbration
Deepened, deepened sensibly.
Crake among the bladed corn,

Stirring cuckoo in the thorn,

Thrush, and finch, and larch were still;

Down the valley, up the hill

Ran the water's voice subdued;

Was it strange that holy mood
Gathered like a voice divine,

Round our hearts, my love's and mine?

Yesterday is fled; the blank

Of a Night most dark and dank

Hath defiled the blissful eve!

Shadows ready to deceive

Hung around, their hue was fair,

Love and Joy are hidden there.