Enter his royal gallery, drinking pleasure
Slowly from each great picture, one by one.

vi.

Towards the West I turn my weary spirit,
And watch my pictures: one each night is mine.
Earth and my soul, sick of day's toil, inherit
A portion of that luminous peace divine.

VII.

There I have seen a sunset's crimson glory,
Burn as if earth were one great Altar's blaze;
Or, like the closing of a piteous story,
Light up the misty world with dying rays.

VIII.

There I have seen the clouds, in pomp and splendor, Their gold and purple banners all unfurl;

There I have watched colors, more faint and tender Than pure and delicate tints upon a pearl.

IX.

Skies strewn with roses fading, fading slowly,
While one star trembling watched the daylight die ;
Or deep in gloom a sunset, hidden wholly,
Save through gold rents torn in a violet sky.

X.

Or parted clouds, as if asunder riven
By some great angel, and beyond a space
Of far-off tranquil light; the gates of Heaven
Will lead as grandly to as calm a place.

XI.

Or stern dark walls of cloudy mountain ranges
Hid all the wonders that we knew must be;

While, far on high, some little white clouds' changes Revealed the glory they alone could see.

XII.

Or in wild wrath the affrighted clouds lay shattered,
Like treasures of the lost Hesperides,

All in a wealth of ruined splendor scattered,
Save one strange light on distant silver seas.

XIII.

What land or time can claim the Master Painter,
Whose art could teach him half such gorgeous dyes?
Or skill so rare, but purer hues and fainter
Melt every evening in my western skies.

XIV.

So there I wait, until the shade has lengthened,
And night's blue misty curtain floated down;
Then, with my heart calmed, and my spirit
strengthened,

I crawl once more back to the sultry town.

XV.

What Monarch, then, has nobler recreations
Than mine? Or where the great and classic Land
Whose wealth of Art delights the gathered nations
That owns a Picture Gallery half as grand?

SENT TO HEAVEN.

HAD a message to send her,

To her whom my soul loved best; But I had my task to finish,

And she was gone home to rest.

To rest in the far bright Heaven:
O, so far away from here,
It was vain to speak to my darling,
For I knew she could not hear!

I had a message to send her,

So tender, and true, and sweet, I longed for an Angel to bear it, And lay it down at her feet.

I placed it, one summer evening,
On a Cloudlet's fleecy breast;
But it faded in golden splendor,

And died in the crimson west.

I gave it the Lark, next morning,
And I watched it soar and soar;
But its pinions grew faint and weary,
And it fluttered to earth once more.

To the heart of a Rose I told it;

And the perfume, sweet and rare, Growing faint on the blue bright ether, Was lost in the balmy air.

I laid it upon a Censer,

And I saw the incense rise; But its clouds of rolling silver

Could not reach the far blue skies.

I cried, in my passionate longing:
"Has the earth no Angel-friend
Who will carry my Love the message
That my heart desires to send ?"

Then I heard a strain of music,
So mighty, so pure, so clear,
That my very sorrow was silent,
And my heart stood still to hear.

And I felt, in my soul's deep yearning,
At last the sure answer stir :-
"The music will go up to Heaven,
And carry my thought to her."

It rose in harmonious rushing
Of mingled voices and strings,
And I tenderly laid my message
On the Music's outspread wings.

I heard it float farther and farther,
In sound more perfect than speech;
Farther than sight can follow,

Farther than soul can reach.

And I know that at last my message
Has passed through the golden gate:
So my heart is no longer restless,
And I am content to wait.

NEVER AGAIN.

JEVER again!" vow hearts when reunited,
"Never again shall Love be cast aside;
Forever now the shadow has departed;
Nor bitter sorrow, veiled in scornful
pride,

Shall feign indifference, or affect disdain,→
Never, O Love, again, never again!"

"Never again!" so sobs, in broken accents, A soul laid prostrate at a holy shrine,"Once more, once more forgive, O Lord, and pardon, My wayward life shall bend to love divine; And never more shall sin its whiteness stain,Never, O God, again, never again!"

"Never again!" so speaketh one forsaken,

In the blank desolate passion of despair,— "Never again shall the bright dream I cherished Delude my heart, for bitter truth is there, The angel, Hope, shall still thy cruel pain Never again, my heart, never again!"

"Never again!" so speaks the sudden silence,

When round the hearth gathers each well-known

face,

But one is missing, and no future presence,
However dear, can fill that vacant place;
Forever shall that burning thought remain,-
"Never, beloved, again! never again!"