One spirit still remained, and cried,

“ Thy soul shall ne'er forget!” He standeth ever by my side

The phantom called Regret!

But still the spirits rose, and there

Were weary hours of pain,
And anxious hours of fear and care

Bound by an iron chain.

Dim shadows came of lonely hours,

That shunned the light of day, And in the opening smile of flowers

Saw only quick decay.

Calm hours that sought the starry skies

For heavenly lore were there; With folded hands and earnest eyes,

I knew the hours of prayer.

Stern hours that darkened the sun's light,

Heralds of coming woes,
With trailing wings, before my sight

From the dim past arose.

As each dark vision passed and spoke

I prayed it to depart:
At each some buried sorrow woke
And stirred within

my

heart.

Until these hours of pain and care

Lifted their tearful eyes,
Spread their dark pinions in the air

And passed into the skies.

THE TWO INTERPRETERS.

HE clouds are fleeting by, father,

Look in the shining west,

The great white clouds sail onward Upon the sky's blue breast. Look at a snowy eagle,

His wings are tinged with red, And a giant dolphin follows him,

With a crown upon his head!”

The father spake no word, but watched

The drifting clouds roll by; He traced a misty vision too

Upon the shining sky:
A shadowy form, with well-known grace

Of weary love and care,
Above the smiling child she held,

Shook down her floating hair.

“ The clouds are changing now, father,

Mountains rise higher and higher !
And see where red and purple ships

Sail in a sea of fire !”
The father pressed the little hand

More closely in his own,
And watched a cloud-dream in the sky

That he could see alone:
Bright angels carrying far away

A white form, cold and dead, Two held the feet, and two bore up

The flower-crowned drooping head.

“ See, father, see! a glory floods

The sky, and all is bright,

R

And clouds of every hue and shade

Burn in the golden light. And now, above an azure lake

Rise battlements and towers, Where knights and ladies climb the heights,

All bearing purple flowers."

The father looked, and, with a pang

Of love and strange alarm, Drew close the little eager

child
Within his sheltering arm;
From out the clouds the mother looks

With wistful glance below,
She seems to seek the treasure left

On earth so long ago ;
She holds her arms out to her child,

His cradle-song she sings:
The last rays of the sunset gleam

Upon her outspread wings.

Calm twilight veils the summer sky,

The shining clouds are gone; In vain the merry laughing child

Still gaily prattles on;

In vain the bright stars, one by one,

On the blue silence start,
A dreary shadow rests to-night

Upon the father's heart.

COMFORT.

AST thou o'er the clear heaven of thy

soul

Seen tempests roll? Hast thou watched all the hopes thou wouldst have

won

Fade, one by one? Wait till the clouds are past, then raise thine eyes

To bluer skies!

Hast thou gone sadly through a dreary night,

And found no light, No guide, no star, to cheer thee through the plain

No friend, save pain ?