What visions and celestial scenes I filled with aerial machines,―― Montgolfier’s, and Mr. Green’s? Avitor! What fairy tales seemed things of course! The rock that brought Sinbad across, The Calendar’s own winged-horse? Avitor! How many things I took for facts, Icarus and his conduct lax, And how he sealed his fate with wax! Avitor! The first balloons I sought to sail, Soap-bubbles fair, but all too frail, Or kites,――but thereby hangs a tail. Avitor! What made me launch from attic tall A kitten and a parasol, And watch their bitter, frightful fall? Avitor! What youthful dreams of high renown Bade me inflate the parson’s gown, That went not up, nor yet came down? Avitor! My first ascent, I may not tell: Enough to know that in that well My first high aspirations fell, Avitor! My other failures let me pass: The dire explosions; and, alas! The friends I choked with noxious gas, Avitor! For lo! I see perfected rise The vision of my boyish eyes, The messenger of upper skies, Avitor! BRET HARTE. [Illustration] Before closing the collection of Parodies on Miss Taylor’s poem, “My Mother,” a few serious imitations of its style may be given, and in order to avoid any suspicion of treating these with levity, or irreverence, they are printed separately from the _Parodies_ properly so called; as might be expected from the style of the original, these poems are of a somewhat simple and childlike description. THE BIBLE, THE BEST OF BOOKS. What taught me that a Great First Cause Existed ere Creation was, And gave a Universe its laws? The Bible. What guide can lead me to this power, Whom conscience calls me to adore, And bids me seek Him more and more? The Bible. When all my actions prosper well, And higher hopes my wishes swell, What points where truer blessings dwell? The Bible. When passions with temptations join To conquer every power of mine, What leads me then to help divine? The Bible. When pining cares and wasting pain My spirits and my life blood drain, What soothes and turns e’en these to gain? The Bible. When crosses and vexations tease, And various ills my bosom seize, What is it that in life can please? The Bible.