"And brother shall meet with brother,
In peace, from North to South,
And 'I wish you a happy New Year,'
Shall echo from mouth to mouth.
"And there shall be feast, and revel,
In many a home, to-day,
(God grant that the wine be banished
From every board away.)
"Thank God for his righteous goodness,
For a land not red with strife
Thank God for the New Year's blessing,
Thank God for the boon of life.
"Oh! beautiful white-robed city,
Asleep in the arms of Lakes,
I write me a song while it slumbers,
And I'!! sing me a song when it wakes."
And thus while I dreamed, and pondered,
O'er the glad song I would sing,
Lo! I saw the sun was rising,
And my muse had taken wing.
[MOTHER'S LOSS.]
If I could clasp my little babe
Upon my breast to-night,
I would not mind the blowing wind
That shrieketh in affright.
Oh, my lost babe! my little babe,
My babe with dreamful eyes;
Thy bed is cold; and night wind bold
Shrieks woeful lullabies.
My breast is softer than the sod;
This room, with lighter hearth,
Is better place for thy sweet face
Than frozen mother earth.
Oh, my babe! oh, my lost babe!
Oh, babe with waxen hands.
I want thee so, I need thee so--
Come from thy mystic lands!
No love that, like a mother's, fills
Each corner of the heart;
No loss like hers, that rends, and chills,
And tears the soul apart.
Oh, babe--my babe, my helpless babe!
I miss thy little form.
Would I might creep where thou dost sleep,
And clasp thee through the storm.
I hold thy pillow to my breast,
To bring a vague relief;
I sing the songs that soothed thy rest
Ah me! no cheating grief.
My breathing babe! my sobbing babe!
I miss thy plaintiff moan,
I cannot hear--thou art not near
My little one, my own.