FOR ANNIE. THANK Heaven! the crisis The danger, is past, And the lingering illness Is over at last And the fever called " Living" Is conquer'd at last. Sadly, I know I am shorn of my strength, As I lie at full length; Might fancy me dead- The moaning and groaning, With that horrible throbbing At heart:-ah that horrible, Horrible throbbing! The sickness-the nausea- That madden'd my brain- With a lullaby sound, Be foolishly said For man never slept In a different bed And, to sleep, you must slumber Of myrtles and roses : A holier odour About it, of pansies- A dream of the truth And the beauty of AnnieDrown'd in a bath Of the tresses of Annie. She tenderly kiss'd me, She fondly caress'd, And then I fell gently To sleep on her breastDeeply to sleep From the heaven of her breast When the light was extinguish'd, She cover'd me warm, And she pray'd to the angels To keep me from harm- To shield me from harm. That you fancy me dead- (With her love at my breast,) That you fancy me deadThat you shudder to look at me, Thinking me dead:But my heart it is brighter Than all of the many Stars of the sky, For it sparkles with AnnieIt glows with the light Of the love of my AnnieWith the thought of the light Of the eyes of my Annie. TO ONE IN PARADISE. THOU wast all that to me, love, For which my soul did pineA green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine, All wreath'd with fairy fruits and flowers, And all the flowers were mine. Ah, dream too bright to last! Ah, starry Hope!, that didst arise But to be overcast! A voice from out the Future cries, "On! on!"-but o'er the Past (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies Mute, motionless, aghast! For, alas alas! with me The light of life is o'er! No more no more-no more(Such language holds the solemn sea To the sands upon the shore) Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, Or the stricken eagle soar! And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy dark eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams— In what ethereal dances, By what eternal streams. THE RAVEN. ONCE upon a midnight dreary, While I ponder'd, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious Volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, Suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, Rapping at my chamber door. «"Tis some visiter," I mutter'd, 66 Tapping at my chamber door- And the silken, sad, uncertain Entrance at my chamber door- Entrance at my chamber door;— This it is, and nothing more." Presently my soul grew stronger; Hesitating then no longer, 66 Sir," said I," or Madam, truly But the fact is I was napping, And the darkness gave no token, Was the whisper'd word, "Lenore!" 66 Somewhat louder than before. Open here I flung the shutter, Of the saintly days of yore; Perch'd above my chamber door- Just above my chamber door- Then this ebony bird beguiling Of the countenance it wore, Wandering from the Nightly shoreTell me what thy lordly name is On the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the raven "Nevermore." Much I marvell'd this ungainly Little relevancy bore; Bird above his chamber doorBird or beast upon the sculptured Bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore." But the raven sitting lonely That one word he did outpour. "Other friends have flown beforeOn the morrow he will leave me, As my hopes have flown before." Startled at the stillness broken By reply so aptly spoken, "Doubtless," said I," what it utters Is its only stock and store Caught from some unhappy master Whom unmerciful Disaster Follow'd fast and follow'd faster, Till his songs one burden boreTill the dirges of his Hope the Melancholy burden bore Of Nevermore,'-of Nevermore.'” But the raven still beguiling What this ominous bird of yore- That the lamplight gloated o'er; With the lamplight gloating o'er, Then, methought, the air grew denser, "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee From thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, And forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth the raven «Nevermore." 66 Prophet!" said I, « thing of evil!— Is there is there baim in Gilead? "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil- By that heaven that bends above us— Whom the angels name LenoreClasp a rare and radiant maiden Whom the angels name Lenor.” Quoth the raven «Nevermore." "Be that word our sign of parting, Bird or fiend!" I shriek'd, upstarting"Get thee back into the tempest And the Night's Plutonian shore! Quit the bust above my door! And take thy form from off my door!" And the raven, never flitting, On the pallid bust of Fallas Just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming Of a demon that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming Throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow That lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted-nevermore! THE CONQUEROR WORM. Lo! 'tis a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! A play of hopes and fears, Mimes, in the form of God on high, Mere puppets they, who come and go That motley drama!-oh, be sure With its Phantom chased for evermore, And much of Madness, and more of Sin, But see, amid the mimic rout, A crawling shape intrude! A blood-red thing that writhes from out It writhes!-it writhes!-with mortal pangs, And the angels sob at vermin fangs In human gore imbued. IN the greenest of our valleys, By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace (Snow-white palace) rear'd its head. In the monarch Thought's dominion It stood there! Never seraph spread a pinion Over fabric half so fair. Banners, yellow, glorious, golden, On its roof did float and flow; (This, all this, was in the olden Time, long ago.) And every gentle air that dallied, In that sweet day, Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, A winged odour went away. Wanderers in that happy valley Through two luminous windows saw Spirits moving musically, To a lute's well-tuned law; Round about a throne, where, sitting (Porphyrogene!) In state his glory well-befitting, The ruler of the realm was seen. And all with pearl and ruby glowing Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, A troop of echoes, whose sweet duty In voices of surpassing beauty, The wit and wisdom of their king. Assail'd the monarch's high estate; And travellers now within that valley, A hideous throng rush out for ever, THE SLEEPER. AT midnight, in the month of June, The rosemary nods upon the grave; O, lady bright, can it be right, Flit through thy chamber, in and out, So fitfully, so fearfully, Above the closed and fringéd lid 'Neath which thy slumbering soul lies hid, That o'er the floor and down the wall, Like ghosts, the shadows rise and fall. O, lady dear, hast thou no fear? Why and what art thou dreaming here? I The lady sleeps. O, may her sleep, WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH. [Born, 1812] WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH was born in the town of Woodstock, in Connecticut, on the second day of February, 1812. His paternal ancestors came to this country from Wales; and on both sides he is descended from the stern old Puritan stock, being on the mother's a lineal descendant of Governor BRADFORD, whose name appears conspicuously and honourably in the early annals of Massachusetts. An intermediate descendant, the grandfather of Mr. BURLEIGH, served with credit under WASHINGTON, in the war of the Revolution. Such ancestral recollections are treasured, with just pride, in many an humble but happy home in New England. In his infancy, Mr. BURLEIGH's parents removed to Plainfield, in his native state, where his father was for many years the principal of a popular academy, until the loss of sight induced him to abandon his charge, before his son had attained an age to derive much benefit from his instructions. He retired to a farm, and the boy's time was mainly devoted to its culture, varied by the customary attendance in a district-school through the wintermonths, until he was sixteen, when he proposed to become an apprentice to a neighbouring clothier, but abandoned the idea after two weeks' trial, from an inveterate loathing of the coarseness and brutality of those among whom he was set to labour. Here, however, while engaged in the repulsive cares of his employment, he composed his first sonnet, which was published in a gazette printed in the vicinity. Returning to his father's house, he in the following summer became an apprentice to a village printer, whom he left after eight months' tedious endurance, leaving in his "stick" a farewell couplet to his master, which is probably remembered unforgivingly to this day. He did not, however, desert the business, of which he had thus obtained some slight knowledge, but continued to labour as half-apprentice, journey man, sub-editor, etc., through the next seven years, during which he assisted in the conduct of perhaps as many periodicals, deriving thereby little fame and less profit. In December, 1834, while editor of "The Literary Journal," in the city of Schenectady, he married an estimable woman, who has since "divided his sorrows and doubled his joys." In July, 1836, abandoning the printing business for a season, he commenced a new career as a public lecturer, under the auspices of a philanthropic society, and in his new employment he continued for two years. At the close of that period he assumed the editorship of "The Christian Witness," at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which he held two years and a half, when he resigned it, to take charge of "The Washington Banner," a gazette published at Allegheny, on the opposite side of the Ohio. Between this duty, and the study of the law, his time is now divided. His contributions to the periodical literature of the country commenced at an early age, and have been continued at intervals to the present day. "The New Yorker" was for years his favourite medium of communication with the public. A collection of his poems appeared in Philadelphia, early in 1840. ELEGIAC STANZAS. SHE hath gone in the spring-time of life, Ere her sky had been dimm'd by a cloud, While her heart with the rapture of love was yet rife, And the hopes of her youth were unbow'd— From the lovely, who loved her too well; From the heart that had grown to her own; From the sorrow which late o'er her young spirit fell, Like a dream of the night she hath flown; And the earth hath received to its bosom its trustAshes to ashes, and dust unto dust. The spring, in its loveliness dress'd, Will return with its music-wing'd hours, And the flowers her grave-sod above, Meet emblems are they of the pure one and bright, Ay, the spring will return-but the blossom Shall come back when the winter is o'er; As the bird to its sheltering nest, When the storm on the hills is abroad, So her spirit hath flown from this world of unrest To repose on the bosom of Gon! Where the sorrows of earth never more May fling o'er its brightness a stain; Where, in rapture and love, it shall ever adore, With a gladness unmingled with pain; And its thirst shall be slaked by the waters which spring, Like a river of light, from the throne of the Kiss! |