But she turns away in her maiden shame, | It was the savage butcher then, And will not breathe on the kindling flame; He sings at her feet through the live long night, That made a mock of sin, And swore a very wicked oath, He did not care a pin. And creeps to his cave at the break of It was the butcher's youngest son, light; And whenever he comes to the air above, His throat is swelling with baffled love. THE SPECTRE PIG. A BALLAD. IT was the stalwart butcher man, That knit his swarthy brow, And said the gentle Pig must die, And sealed it with a vow. And oh! it was the gentle Pig Lay stretched upon the ground, And ah! it was the cruel knife His little heart that found. They took him then, those wicked men, And round and round an oaken beam Now say thy prayers, thou sinful man, For if his sprite should walk by night, It better were for thee, That thou wert mouldering in the ground, Or bleaching in the sea. His voice was broke with sighs, And with his pocket-handkerchief He wiped his little eyes; The Pig is deadly sick, And men have hung him by his heels, And fed him with a stick." It was the bloody butcher then, That laughed as he would die, Yet did he soothe the sorrowing child, And bid him not to cry ; "O Nathan, Nathan, what 's a Pig, That thou shouldst weep and wail? Come, bear thee like a butcher's child, And thou shalt have his tail!" It was the butcher's daughter then, That sobbed as if her heart would break, And thus she spoke in thrilling tone, Then did her wicked father's lips The steel-armed hunter viewed thee | The Rose is cooling his burning cheek. eye, And crouched and panted as thy step But the Lily unfolded her weary lids, And looked at the sky so blue. went by ! Thou art the vanquished, and insulting Remember, remember, thou silly one, How fast will thy summer glide, Bars thy broad bosom as a sparrow's And wilt thou wither a virgin pale, Or flourish a blooming bride? man wing; His nerveless arms thine iron sinews "O the Rose is old, and thorny, and cold, bind, And lead in chains the desert's fallen king; Are these the beings that have dared to twine And he lives on earth," said she; "But the Star is fair and he lives in the air, And he shall my bridegroom be." Their feeble threads around those limbs But what if the stormy cloud should of thine ? So must it be; the weaker, wiser race, the sea, thee; And thou, the terror of the trembling wild, Must bow thy savage strength, the mockery of a child! THE STAR AND THE WATER-LILY. THE sun stepped down from his golden throne, And lay in the silent sea, And the Lily had folded her satin leaves, Why crisp the waters blue? come, And ruffle the silver sea? Would he turn his eye from the distant sky, To smile on a thing like thee? One ray from his far-off throne ; And thou wilt be left alone. There is not a leaf on the mountain-top Nor a golden sand on the sparkling Nor a pearl in the waters blue, That he has not cheered with his fickle smile, And warmed with his faithless beam, And will he be true to a pallid flower, Alas for the Lily! she would not heed, And bared her breast to the trembling | She watched the flower, as, day by day, ray That shot from the rising star; The cloud came over the darkened sky, And over the waters wide: The leaflets curled and died; But he who gave it never came To claim her for his bride. She looked in vain through the beating "O many a summer's morning glow Has lent the rose its ray, And many a winter's drifting snow FROM A BACHELOR'S PRIVATE SWEET Mary, I have never breathed wreathed, The few strange words my lips had taught I smiled, or strove to smile, the same. Their gentler signs, which often brought Once more the pulse of Nature glows And is there none with me to share Is followed by one burning eye. Fresh roses to thy cheek, Bent o'er my couch of pain, I walked where saint and virgin keep I knew that thou hadst woes to weep, |