“May the passage prove, Of what’s presented, worthy of your love And favor, as was aimed, and we have all That can in compass of our wishes fall.” * * * * * LINES WRITTEN AT NIGHT IN CAVE HILL CEMETERY. BY GEO. D. PRENTICE. One evening, dear Virginia, in thy life, When thou and I were straying side by side Beneath the holy moonlight, and our thoughts Seemed taking a deep hue of mournfulness From the sweet, solemn hour, I said if thou, Whose young years scarcely numbered half my own, Should’st pass before me to the spirit-land, I would, on some mild eve beneath the moon, Shining in heaven as it was shining then, Go forth alone to lay me by thy grave, And render to thy cherished memory The last sad tribute of a stricken heart. Thine answer was a sigh, a tear, a sob, A gentle pressure of the hand, and thus My earnest vow was hallowed. A thin cloud, Like a pole winding-sheet, that moment passed Across the moon, and as its shadow fell, Like a mysterious omen of the tomb, Upon our kindred spirits, thou didst turn Thine eye to that wan spectre of the skies, And, gazing on the solemn portent, weep As if thy head were waters. Weary years Since then have planted furrows on my brow, And sorrows in my heart, and the pale moon, That shone around us on that lovely eve, Is shining now upon thy swarded grave, And I have come, a pilgrim of the night, To bow at memory’s holy shrine and keep My unforgotten vow.