The sun already toward the west is tending,
His rays upon thy hollow temples strike;
Thou heed'st them not; heed'st not the rains, descending
On good and bad, just and unjust alike.
The mild, cool breeze of even is round me playing,
Sweet perfume from the woods and fields are straying;
Rich grain now waves where lances bristled then;
Thus do all things proclaim God's love to men.
Whoe'er thou wert, who by a fellow-mortal
Were hurried out of life; we are at peace;
Thus I return thee to the grave's dark portal,
Revenge and hatred on this spot should cease.
Rest where thy mouldering skeleton reposes,
And may the perfume of the forest roses
Waft thoughts of peace to every wanderer's breast!
Thou restless one! return thee to thy rest.
SONG.
BY C. F. HOFFMAN.
I know thou dost love me--ay! frown as thou wilt,
And curl that beautiful lip
Which I never can gaze on without the guilt
Of burning its dew to sip.
I know that my heart is reflected in thine,
And, like flowers that over a brook incline,
They toward each other dip.
Though thou lookest so cold in these halls of light,
'Mid the careless, proud, and gay,
I will steal like a thief in thy heart at night,
And pilfer its thoughts away.
I will come in thy dreams at the midnight hour,
And thy soul in secret shall own the power
It dares to mock by day.
THE MINISINK.
BY A. B. STREET
Encircled by the screening shade,
With scatter'd bush, and bough,
And grassy slopes, a pleasant glade
Is spread before me now;
The wind that shows its forest search
By the sweet fragrance of the birch
Is whispering on my brow,
And the mild sunshine flickers through
The soft white cloud and summer blue.
Far to the North, the Delaware
Flows mountain-curv'd along,
By forest bank, by summit bare,
It bends in rippling song;
Receiving in each eddying nook
The waters of the vassal brook,
It sweeps more deep and strong;
Round yon green island it divides,
And by this quiet woodland glides.
The ground bird flutters from the grass
That hides her tiny nest,
The startled deer, as by I pass,
Bounds in the thicket's breast;
The red-bird rears his crimson wing
From the long fern of yonder spring,
A sweet and peaceful rest
Breathes o'er the scene, where once the sound
Of battle shook the gory ground.
Long will the shuddering hunter tell
How once, in vengeful wrath,
Red warriors raised their fiercest yell
And trod their bloodiest path;
How oft the sire--the babe--the wife
Shriek'd vain beneath the scalping knife
'Mid havoc's fiery scathe;
Until the boldest quail'd to mark,
Wrapp'd round the woods, Night's mantle dark.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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