Strange, was it not? Far from its native deep, One song it sang,-- Sang of the awful mysteries of the tide, Sang of the misty sea, profound and wide,-- Ever with echoes of the ocean rang. And as the shell upon the mountain height Sings of the sea, So do I ever, leagues and leagues away,-- So do I ever, wandering where I may,-- Sing, O my home! sing, O my home! of thee. 1883. TO A USURPER Aha! a traitor in the camp, A rebel strangely bold,-- A lisping, laughing, toddling scamp, Not more than four years old! To think that I, who've ruled alone So proudly in the past, Should be ejected from my throne By my own son at last! He trots his treason to and fro, As only babies can, And says he'll be his mamma's beau When he's a "gweat, big man"! You stingy boy! you've always had A share in mamma's heart; Would you begrudge your poor old dad The tiniest little part? That mamma, I regret to see, Inclines to take your part,-- As if a dual monarchy Should rule her gentle heart! But when the years of youth have sped, The bearded man, I trow, Will quite forget he ever said He'd be his mamma's beau. Renounce your treason, little son, Leave mamma's heart to me; For there will come another one To claim your loyalty. And when that other comes to you, God grant her love may shine Through all your life, as fair and true As mamma's does through mine! 1885. LULLABY; BY THE SEA Fair is the castle up on the hill-- Hushaby, sweet my own! The night is fair, and the waves are still, And the wind is singing to you and to me In this lowly home beside the sea-- Hushaby, sweet my own! On yonder hill is store of wealth-- Hushaby, sweet my own! And revellers drink to a little one's health; But you and I bide night and day For the other love that has sailed away-- Hushaby, sweet my own! See not, dear eyes, the forms that creep Ghostlike, O my own! Out of the mists of the murmuring deep; Oh, see them not and make no cry Till the angels of death have passed us by-- Hushaby, sweet my own! Ah, little they reck of you and me-- Hushaby, sweet my own! In our lonely home beside the sea; They seek the castle up on the hill, And there they will do their ghostly will-- Hushaby, O my own! Here by the sea a mother croons "Hushaby, sweet my own!" In yonder castle a mother swoons While the angels go down to the misty deep, Bearing a little one fast asleep-- Hushaby, sweet my own! SOLDIER, MAIDEN, AND FLOWER "Sweetheart, take this," a soldier said, "And bid me brave good-by; It may befall we ne'er shall wed, But love can never die. Be steadfast in thy troth to me, And then, whate'er my lot, 'My soul to God, my heart to thee,'-- Sweetheart, forget me not!"