And pæans loud, in every tongue, And choral hymns resound; And lengthening honours hand your name To time's remotest bound. Proceed! your race of glory run, Your virtuous toils endure! You come, commissioned from on high, And your reward is sure. TO A LITTLE INVISIBLE BEING WHO IS EXPECTED SOON TO BECOME VISIBLE. GERM of new life, whose powers expanding slow What powers lie folded in thy curious frame,Senses from objects locked, and mind from thought! How little canst thou guess thy lofty claim To grasp at all the worlds the Almighty wrought! And see, the genial season's warmth to share, Fresh younglings shoot, and opening roses glow! Swarms of new life exulting fill the air, Haste, infant bud of being, haste to blow ! For thee the nurse prepares her lulling songs, She only asks to lay her burden down, She longs to fold to her maternal breast Part of herself, yet to herself unknown ; Fed with her life through many a tedious moon. IS EXPECTED SOON TO BECOME VISIBLE. 201 Come, reap thy rich inheritance of love! Bask in the fondness of a Mother's eye! Nor wit nor eloquence her heart shall move Haste, little captive, burst thy prison doors! If charmed verse or muttered prayers had power, Till thy wished smile thy mother's pangs o'erpay. WASHING-DAY. ..........and their voice, Turning again towards childish treble, pipes THE Muses are turned gossips; they have lost The buskined step, and clear high-sounding phrase, Of farm or orchard, pleasant curds and cream, By little whimpering boy, with rueful face; Ye who beneath the yoke of wedlock bend, |