FLOWER OF MY COLD AND DARKENED YEAR. FLOWER of my cold and darkened year! To turn the darkness into light, And make it summer in the heart! FLOWER OF MY COLD AND DARKENED YEAR. What though my early hopes have flown, Shrines on which ruin cannot fall, And cherished there, thy look and tone Oh! blessed time of smiles and tears,- But who shall bring the shadow back, Forward, like rivers to the main, -for ever on!-. Time passes on— The moon shall never pause again Upon the vale of Ajalon! 25 The sun comes o'er the eastern hill, On Gideon, as in days gone by, But that high voice has long been still That bade him linger in the sky! Yet, thou hast been to me a beam, 4 Pure as that bright and angel form, " That stood beside the troubled stream, And gathered healing-from its storm! Thy love when all was strife around, Like music, sung my soul to rest, And thou hast fondly sought-and found A thousand fountains in my breast! Oh!-for the bloom that thou hast shed Along my wasted breast and brow,May flowers spring up beneath thy tread, And make thy life-path bright as now! Still may thy fancy daily fleet, As here, 'mid glad and happy themes, And visions-sweet, as thou art sweet,— Come gliding to thy nightly dreams! May mercy shield thy breast and brain, (Descending like a gentle dew,) Alike from grief's and pleasure's pain, -For pleasure has her poisons too!-Bliss-like the Spirit's flaming sword,Consuming from its very light, And hopes that-like the prophet's gourd,Grow up, to perish in a night! May years pass o'er thee, like the breeze That bows-but will not break-the trees, Light-precious as thyself,-be given, To cheer thee through this darker scene, THE PARTING. THE night is lowering, dull and dark, Her eye is on the fatal bark,— Oh! that a wish could chain the gales, Oh! that no ray might ever rise, |