JAMES LEE.

I.

JAMES LEE'S WIFE SPEAKS AT THE WINDOW.

1.

Ah, love, but a day,

And the world has changed ! The sun 's away,

And the bird 's estranged ; The wind has dropped,

And the sky's deranged : Summer has stopped.

2.

Look in my eyes !

Wilt thou change too? Should I fear surprise ?

Shall I find aught new In the old and dear,

In the good and true, With the changing year ?

3.

Thou art a man,

But I am thy love! For the lake, its swan;

For the dell, its dove; And for thee-oh, haste !)

Me, to bend above, Me, to hold embraced !

II.

BY THE FIRESIDE.

1.

Is all our fire of shipwreck wood,

Oak and pine ?
Oh, for the ills half-understood,

The dim, dead woe

Long ago
Befallen this bitter coast of France!
Well, poor sailors took their chance ;

I take mine.

2.

A ruddy shaft our fire must shoot

O'er the sea :
Do sailors eye the casement—mute,

Drenched and stark,

From their barkAnd envy, gnash their teeth for hate O'the warm safe house and happy freight

Thee and me?

3.

God help you, sailors, at your need! !

Spare the curse!
For some ships, safe in port indeed,

Rot and rust,

Run to dust,
All through worms i' the wood, which crept,
Gnawed our hearts out while we slept:

That is worse !

4.

Who lived here before us two ?

Old-world pairs !
Did a woman ever-would I knew!

Watch the man

With whom began Love's voyage full-sail, --(now, gnash your teeth!) When planks start, open hell beneath

Unawares ?

III.

IN THE DOORWAY,

1.

The swallow has set her six young on the rail,

And looks sea-ward :
The water 's in stripes like a snake, olive-pale

To the leeward,
On the weather-side, black, spotted white with the

wind : “ Good fortune departs, and disaster 's behind,”Hark, the wind with its wants and its infinite wail !

2.

Our fig-tree, that leaned for the saltness, has furled

Her five fingers,
Each leaf like a hand opened wide to the world

Where there lingers
No glint of the gold, Summer sent for her sake :
How the vines writhe in rows, each impaled on its

stake! My heart shrivels up, and my spirit shrinks curled.