Where speech is music, and breath is balm; And broods an everlasting calm; And flowers wither not, as in worlds like this; And hope is swallowed in perfect bliss;-- V. Where all is peaceful, for all is pure; And all is lovely; and all endure; And day is endless, and ever bright; And no more sea is, and no more night;-- VI. Where round the throne, in hues like thine, The raiments of the ransom'd shine; And o'er each brow a halo glows Of glory, like the pure White Rose! THE SWEET BRIAR. I. The Sweet Briar flowering, With boughs embowering, Beside the willow-tufted stream, In its soft, red bloom, And its wild perfume, Brings back the past like a sunny dream! II. Methinks, in childhood, Beside the wildwood I lie, and listen the blackbird's song, Mid the evening calm, As the Sweet Briar's balm On the gentle west wind breathes along-- III. To speak of meadows, And palm-tree shadows, And bee-hive cones, and a thymy hill, And greenwood mazes, And greensward daisies, And a foamy stream, and a clacking mill. IV. Still the heart rejoices, At the happy voices Of children, singing amid their play; While swallows twittering, And waters glittering, Make earth an Eden at close of day. V. In sequestered places, Departed faces, Return and smile as of yore they smiled; When, with trifles blest, Each buoyant breast Held the trusting heart of a little child. VI. The future never Again can ever The perished gifts of the past restore, Nor, to thee or me, Can the wild flowers be What the Briar was then--oh never more! THE WALL-FLOWER. I. The Wall-flower--the Wall-flower, How beautiful it blooms! It gleams above the ruined tower, Like sunlight over tombs; It sheds a halo of repose Around the wrecks of time. To beauty give the flaunting rose, The Wall-flower is sublime. II. Flower of the solitary place! Gray ruin's golden crown, That lendest melancholy grace To haunts of old renown; Thou mantlest o'er the battlement, By strife or storm decayed; And fillest up each envious rent Time's canker-tooth hath made. III.