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320         ANN S. STEPHENS.

When a cool and lulling melody
Fell from the dripping eaves,
And soft warm drops came pattering
Upon the restless leaves.

But, oh, the scene was glorious
When clouds were lightly riven,
And there, above my valley home,
Came out the bow of heaven;
And, in its fitful brilliancy
Hung quivering on high,
Like a jewell'd arch of paradise
Reflected through the sky.

I am thinking of the footpath
My constant visits made,
Between the dear old homestead
And that leafy apple shade;
Where the flow of distant waters
Came with a tinkling sound,
Like the revels of a fairy band,
Beneath the fragrant ground.

I haunted it at even-tide,
And dreamily would lie
And watch the crimson twilight
Come stealing o'er the sky.
'T was sweet to see its dying gold
Wake up the dusky leaves,
To hear the swallows twittering
Beneath the distant eaves.

I have listen'd to the music,
A low sweet minstrelsy,
Breathed by a lonely night-bird
That haunted that old tree,


ANN S. STEPHENS.          321

Till my heart has swell'd with feelings
For which it had no name,
A yearning love for poesy,
A thirsting after fame.

I have gazed up through the foliage
With dim and tearful eyes,
And with a holy reverence
Dwelt on the changing skies,
Till the burning stars were peopled
With forms of spirit-birth,
And I've almost heard their harp-strings
Reverberate on earth.

SONG.

LET me perish in the early spring,
When thickets all are green;
When rosy buds are blossoming
Amid their tender sheen;
When the raindrops and the sunshine
Lie sleeping in the leaves;
And swallows haunt the thrifty vine,
That drapes the cottage eaves.

Let me perish in the early spring,
The childhood of the year;
I would not have a gloomy thing
Pass o'er my humble bier;
For when a broken heart gives way,
In such a world as ours,
'Tis well to let the humble clay
Pass gently with the flowers.
               V

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-29 12:57:13 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-29 13:10:20