But when some sunny spot in those bright fields
Needs the fair presence of an added flower, Down sweeps a starry angel in the night:
At morn the rose has vanished from our bower.
Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave!
Blank, silent, vacant; but in worlds above, Like a new star outblossomed in the skies,
The angels hail an added flower of love.
Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound,
Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf, Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eye
Beyond the autumn mists of earthly grief.
Thy garden rosebud bore within its breast
Those mysteries of color, warm and bright, That the bleak climate of this lower sphere
Could never waken into form and light.
Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence,
Nor must thou ask to take her thence away; Thou shalt behold her, in some coming hour,
Full blossomed in his fields of cloudless day.
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
FROM "FESTUS."
For to die young is youth's divinest gift;
To pass from one world fresh into another,
Ere change hath lost the charm of soft regret,
And feel the immortal impulse from within
Which makes the coming life cry always, On!
And follow it while strong, is heaven's last mercy.
There is a fire-fly in the south, but shines
When on the wing. So is't with mind. When once
We rest, we darken. On! saith God to the soul,
As unto the earth for ever. On it goes,
A rejoicing native of the infinite,
As is a bird, of air; an orb, of heaven.
PHILIP JAMES BAILEY.