UNVEILING.*

BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON.

"Go! the useless dream is over,

Which so long my heart hath nurst; Perjured knight, and faithless lover,

Go! Love's slavish bonds are burst. Never more, at morn or even, Shall I watch for thy return;

I have prayed-and strength is given, And my heart hath ceased to burn.

"Never more, my faint head leaning
At the dark verandah's side,
Shall I bless its flowers for screening
Tears I struggled still to hide ;
Nor, with feverish fingers pressing

On my hot and crimsoned cheek,
Strive to chase what thy caressing

Taught the tell-tale blood to speak.

"Never more, with timid shrinking Even from the light of day, (Lest the sun should read my thinking, And my wandering thoughts betray,)

See Frontispiece.

Shall my hands my closed eyes cover,

And my buried head sink low

Dreaming of a worshipped lover,

Dreams which none but lovers know.

"Never more!—that love hath vanished,
With its pleasure and its pain;
From my soul thy form is banished,
And my heart is strong again.
But the innocence of feeling,

And the cheerful days of yore,
The holy quiet round me stealing-
What, oh! what can these restore?

"Hollow sounds my vacant laughter,
In which joy hath never part;
And the unbroken silence after
Weighs upon my burdened heart.
Fool! dost think that pain and sadness
Should be borne by me alone?
Thou hast shared my days of gladness,
Thou shalt pay me groan for groan.

"In the midnight, when thou dreamest,
To thy couch my form shall glide;
Even when most alone thou seemest,
I will seat me by thy side.
Vows of love long since were spoken,
Ne'er each other to forsake;

And although thy vows are broken,

Mine, proud youth, I will not break!"

Loudly laughed her scornful lover -
But he shrank from her dark eye;

And her words, though years pass over,
Still must haunt him till he die.
Vainly, with a coward's shrinking,
He to other lands hath gone;
Sleeping, waking, laughing, drinking,
Never doth he feel alone.

Sweeping past him, slowly trailing
Heavy draperies of white,
Then with steady hand UNVEILING,
Still a figure meets his sight.
At the banquet, she sits by him,
Glides along the merry dance;
And his old companions fly him,
Startled by his frenzied glance.

Vainly doth the bark that bears him

Brave the winds that rouse the sea;

Haunted by the sight that scares him,
Hoarse he whispers" Yes, tis she!"

Vainly, by his friends surrounded,
Doth he raise unquiet mirth,
Still the distant crowd is bounded,
As she glides along the earth.

Even when, low and humbly bending, With the priest his lips would pray, With his thoughts her last words blending, Prayer and hope are chased away.

Slow he hears the drapery trailing

Far long the distant aisle ;
And he sees that form UNVEILING,
With a wild and wicked smile.

Wan his form, and pale and wasted,-
Heavy is his step and slow;

The bitter cup his heart hath tasted,

Hath been drugged and brimmed with woe. Even when on his sick-bed lying,

The heavy VEIL comes sweeping on; She sits beside his couch while dying,Watching till his soul is gone!

SONG.

WHAT is Love?. -a fire,
Fed with idle breath;

'Tis a dream,-'tis a desire,
Dying-ere death.

Where is Love?-Alas!

In the dust it lies

Severed green like summer grass,

And so it dies.

L. C.