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96 LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. Because thy smile was fair, Thy lip and eye so bright, Because thy cradle-care Was such a fond delight, Shall Love, with weak embrace, Thy heavenward flight detain? No! Angel, seek thy place Amid yon cherub-train. LINES. From a bright hearth-stone of our land, A beam hath pass'd away, A smile, whose cheering influence seem'd Like morning to the day; A sacrificing spirit With innate goodness fraught, That ever for another's weal Employ'd its fervid thought. That beam is gather'd back again To the Pure Fount of flame, That smile the Blessed Source hath found, From whence its radiance came,- That spirit hath a genial clime; And yet, methinks, 't will bend Sometimes, amid familiar haunts, Beside the mourning friend. Yet better 't were to pass away, Ere evening shadows fell, To wrap in chillness, and decay, What here was loved so well; And strew unwither'd flowers around When the last footsteps part, And leave in every nook of home, Sweet memories for the heart. LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY. 97 ADVERTISEMENT OF A LOST DAY. Lost! lost! lost! A gem of countless price, Cut from the living rock, And graved in Paradise. Set round with three times eight Large diamonds, clear and bright, And each with sixty smaller ones, All changeful as the light. Lost- where the thoughtless throng In fashion's mazes wind, Where trilleth folly's song, Leaving a sting behind; Yet to my hand 't was given A golden harp to buy, Such as the white-robed choir attune To deathless minstrelsy. Lost! lost! lost! I feel all search is vain; That gem of countless cost Can ne'er be mine again; I offer no reward, For till these heart-strings sever, I know that Heaven-entrusted gift Is reft away for ever. But when the sea and land Like burning scroll have fled, I'll see it in His hand Who judgeth quick and dead, And when of scathe and loss That man can ne'er repair, The dread inquiry meets my soul, What shall it answer there? 9 G
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Reopened for Editing 2023-06-28 10:35:13