A REMEMBRANCE OF AUTUMN. OTHING stirs the sunny silence,- wall, And the south wind sighing in the trees, And the dead leaves rustling as they fall: While the swallows, one by one, are gathering, All impatient to be on the wing, And to wander from us, seeking Their beloved Spring! Cloudless rise the azure heavens! Only vaporous wreaths of snowy white Dying, if they must, with kingly pride: While the swallows in the blue air wheeling, Circle now an eager fluttering band, Ready to depart and leave us For a brighter land! But a voice is sounding sadly, Of a day that faded all too fast- Where the swallows wing their way at last, And our hearts perchance as sadly wandering, Vainly seeking for a long-lost day, While we watch the far-off swallows, Flee with them away! THREE EVENINGS IN A LIFE. I. ES, it looked dark and dreary That long and narrow street: And gathering mists of night The long day's cheerless flight! II. Watching the sullen fire, Hearing the dreary rain, Drop after drop, run down On the darkening window-pane: Chill was the heart of Alice, Chill as that winter day,— For the star of her life had risen Only to fade away. III. The voice that had been so strong To bid the snare depart, The true and earnest will, The calm and steadfast heart, Were now weighed down by sorrow, Were quivering now with pain; The clear path now seemed clouded, And all her grief in vain. IV. Duty, Right, Truth, who promised So, turning from the Present V. She thought how in her girlhood She kept so well to-day; How to her brother Herbert She had been help and guide, And how his artist nature On her calm strength relied. VI. How through life's fret and turmoil Been for his sake alone; And now, what strange new feeling Possessed her as its own? VII. Her home each flower that breathed there, The wind's sigh, soft and low, Each trembling spray of ivy, The shadow of the forest, Dear as they were, were dearer |