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FEATS OF DEATH.

MISS DAVIDSON.

[Written in her sixteenth year.]

I HAVE pass'd o'er the earth in the darkness of night,

I have walk'd the wild winds in the morning's broad light;

I have paused o'er the bower where the infant lay sleeping,

And I've left the fond mother in sorrow and weeping.

My pinion was spread, and the cold dew of

night,

Which withers, and moulders the flower in its light,

Fell silently o'er the warm cheek in its glow, And I left it there blighted, and wasted and

low.

I cull'd the fair bud, as it danced in its mirth, And I left it to moulder and fade on the earth.

I paused o'er the valley, the glad sounds of joy

Rose soft through the mist, and ascended on high;

The fairest were there, and I paused in my flight,

And the deep cry of wailing broke wildly that night.

I stay not to gather the lone one to earth, I spare not the young in their gay dance of mirth;

But I sweep them all on to their home in the grave,

I stop not to pity-I stay not to save.

I paused in my pathway, for beauty was there; It was beauty too death-like, too cold, and too fair!

The purple deep fountain, seem'd melting

away,

And the faint pulse of life, scarce remember'd to play;

She had thought on the tomb, she was waiting for me,

I gazed, I pass'd on, and her spirit was free.

The clear stream roll'd gladly, and bounded along,

With ripple, and murmur, and sparkle, and

song;

The minstrel was tuning his wild harp to

love,

And sweet and half-sad were the numbers he wove :

I pass'd, and the harp of the bard was un

strung,

O'er the stream which roll'd deeply, 'twas recklessly hung;

The minstrel was not! and I pass'd on alone O'er the newly-raised turf, and the rudelycarved stone.

3

LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

LET us love one another,-not long may we

stay;

In this bleak world of mourning some droop while 'tis day;

Some fade in their noon, and few linger till

eve ;

Oh! there breaks not a heart but leaves some one to grieve;

And the fondest, the purest, the truest that

met,

Have still found the need to forgive and forget: Then oh though the hopes that we nour

ish'd decay,

Let us love one another as long as we may.

There are hearts like the ivy ;-though all be decay'd,

That it seem'd to twine fondly in sunlight and shade;

No leaves droop in sadness,-still gayly they

spread,

Undimm'd mid the blighted, the lonely, the

dead;

-not in

But the misletoe clings to the oak,—

part,

But with leaves closely round it,—the root in its heart;

Exists but to twine it,-imbibe the same dew, Or fall with its loved oak, and perish there too.

Thus let's love one another mid sorrows the worst,

Unalter'd and fond, as we loved at the first. Though the false wing of pleasure may change and forsake,

And the bright urn of wealth into particles break;

There are some sweet affections that wealth cannot buy,

That cling but still closer when sorrow draws

nigh,

And yet remain with us, though all else pass

away;

Then, let's love one another as long as we

stay.

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