Lays from the West Part 15

SONGS OF THE SEA.

"My soul is full of longing For the secret of the sea, And the heart of the great ocean Sends a restless pulse through me."--LONGFELLOW

In the grey light of the morning, ere the sun has lit the sky When the winds rave loud and wildly, to the angry waters How the mighty, foaming billows thunder forth, in ceaseless roar, Songs majestic, wild with anguish, woeful waitings evermore.

In the dawn light, in the gloaming, beating, breaking, o'er and o'er, Telling out the ocean stories, to the wide, encircling sh.o.r.e; And I listen, till the legends of the past, a shadowy host, Seem to gather round, and people storied Antrim's rock-bound coast.

Where the grandeur of the Causeway smiles in scorn at Art's weak hand, Seem the wild waves ever singing of the high schemes Nature plann'd, When she hurled the giant columns, by some mighty earthquake shock, Till they stand, huge pillar-wonders, by the paved, mysterious rock; And the dark caves, weird and frowning, echoing the sea's wild strife, Seem to hold some spell unearthly, of the ocean's secret life.

Where th'Atlantic rolls sublimely, lashing round Port Ballintrae, Language cannot paint the grandeur of the waves, in awful play!

Beating, breaking, wildly seething, whilst in restless, fitful roar, Deep to far-off deep is calling, answering round from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e.

And the spirit of the ocean seems to fill its heaving breast With ten thousand prison'd longings, wailing out in wild unrest.

Softening down to calmer music, round the White Rocks and the caves, With a tender, nameless pathos, softly sing the curling waves To the battlements and turrets, and the old towers, grim and h.o.a.ry.

Where the stern Macquillan chieftains reigned in once unconquered glory.

There Dunluce, in lonely grandeur, frowns in wild, and deathless pride, Sentinel of bygone ages, Time-tried warder by the tide.

Grey Dunluce, in concert blending, winds, and waves, and sounding sea, Seem to sing a dirge of sorrow for the glory fled from thee, Rolling onward to the Skerries, wailing far in requiem moan Till they catch the surf's bold thunder round toe rock at Innishone, Where the foam-girt sh.o.r.e re-echoes with the burthen of the song, And the angry dashing billows wide and far the cry prolong.

When the moonlight, pale and faintly, gleams on Malin Head's blue crest, And its silvery pathway shimmers far across the ocean's breast; When the yeasty breakers glisten softly in the shadowy light, When the rocks seem mystic castles, looming grimly thro' the night; Then the solemn songs of Ocean, fraught with precious, new- found lore Bring for Fancy unknown treasure, priceless gems for Thought's great store!

Grand old Ocean! how my spirit longs to catch thy melody Do thine heart's great pulses quicken with a secret life, oh, Sea?

Far adown the blue waves, hidden by the hearings of your breast, Is there soul to tune your singing, to its ceaseless, wild unrest?

Oh! thou dread and wondrous ocean, tell these mystic songs to me For their cadence, grand and changeful, haunts my path with mystery.

THE MOONLIGHT.

Silvery moonlight, clear and bright, Shining down on our earth to-night, Soft as the touch of an angels' wing, Tender, beautiful, holy thing!

Seeking the glen where the cool waters flow-- Lighting the bank where the violets grow; Gilding the crest of the foamy rill; Falling in silence upon the hill; Piercing the depths of the forest glade, Glancing down thro' the leafy shade, Till the loneliest haunts of the wild wood seem To rejoice in the light of thy radiant beam!

Glistening out on the trackless deep, Where the spirits of ocean their revels keep; Lighting the path over the billows' foam, As the mermaid glides from her gem-built home, And the peri's song o'er the heaving sea Sounds in fitful, plaintive melody!

Pouring down on the mountain pa.s.s, Where, tripping light o'er the dewy gra.s.s, The fairies join in their wild, weird dance, And the mystic forms thro' the moonbeams glance, While far and wide on the wind is borne Through answering echoes, the elfin horn.

Flooding with glory the prairie's breast, Till, all transformed, in the radiance drest, The shanty, south of the poplar wood, Seems a sylvian lodge in the solitude; And the settler dreams, with a moistened eye, Of the moonlights and loves of the times gone by.

Gleaming fair on the city towers Where the clocks, thro' the night, chime the pa.s.sing hours, On the city's heart that no longer beats, With the ebb and flow of its noisy streets, And their living pulse-throbs that come and go, To the smile of joy, and the throb of woe!

Smiling down from a cloudless sky, On the village homes, that all peaceful lie; Where simple hearts, in a happier life, Know nought of the city's cares and strife,-- The hardy sons of honest toil, Pensioners free of their parent soil!

To hopeful hearts in the morn of youth, The dream-land of Love, and the type of Truth, Where the future shows 'neath its veil of light An Eden of blissful, untold delight

In the stern, hard struggle of manhood's days When tired feet stumble o'er life's rough ways, And in age's twilight of shadowy gloom, A dream of the rest that is yet to come.

Shine on, silvery moonlight, shine!

Gladden earth with your beams benign; On restless ocean, on tranquil lake, Through forest alleys, by fern and brake; By quiet village, and crowded town, By mountain, prairie, and breezy down; O'er sights of gladness, o'er scenes of woe, Let the tender light of thy pure beams glow, And the weary and hopeless shall bless your light.

And the child of joy have more pure delight.

"GOODNIGHT."

"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."

Cant. 2.17

Goodnight, beloved! see the sun descending, Behind the woodlands of the far, bright West, And in the glory of the daylights ending, The "light at eventide" brings dreams of rest.

Goodnight, beloved! now the grey-eyed gloaming Glides through the valleys with an unheard tread, And haunts the woodlands, where the wild winds moaning Wails o'er the leaves of Autumn, sere and dead.

Goodnight, beloved! see the pale stars peeping Through the blue curtain of the shadowy skies;-- The lamps the angels hold, their night-watch keeping, O'er souls who wait their call to Paradise!

Goodnight, beloved! a faint, lingering glory, Of dying daylight glows in parting smile; Its last kiss lighting all the hill-tops h.o.a.ry, As though the hour with brightness to beguile.

So now, I dream, a tender love-light lingers O'er all the bygone, in a charmed glow,-- That hides the marks of Time's relentless fingers And gilds the cherished dreams of long ago.

How fair it shines! but ah! the West grows dimmer, The crimson radiance melts to sober grey, And so earth's dream-light fades in fitful glimmer, Its meteor brightness swiftly dies away.

Goodnight, beloved! for the shadows darken In gloom around me, and I cannot see; Come nearer, nearer still; beloved, hearken; I hear a far-off voice that calls for me.

Goodnight, beloved! a new light is breaking As earth's light fades to brighten nevermore; Goodnight, beloved! till that glad awaking When morning shines upon the other sh.o.r.e.

LOST.

The sunset burns on roof and spire, And streets with busy pa.s.sers rife; But ah! it lacks the dream-world fire, That once 'twas wont to call to life.

That once it kindled in the days Of woodland haunt and country lane, Before I knew the city's ways, Before I learned that life has pain.

Oh! present, with your armed host Of anxious cares, barbed sharp, and keen Fade! for the light of pleasures lost Shines forth from days that once have been.

A fairer sunset charms the West A mellower radiance fills the air; A scene with old-time beauty drest, Lies stretched before me, smiling fair.

A rustic range-wall, gnarled and old, A wooden bridge that spans a stream; The glory of the sunset's gold.

The sweetness of my first love-dream!

Two hearts that meet in pa.s.sion'd thrill, Whose perfect bliss no words can tell; But once in life that joy we feel, And feeling, prize, alas! too well!