It seems so like my own Because of the fasts I keep; O God! that bread should be so dear, And flesh and blood so cheap!

"Work-work-work! My labor never flags;

And what are its wages? A bed of straw,

A crust of bread, and rags. That shattered roof, and this naked floor;

A table, a broken chair;

And a wall so blank my shadow I thank

For sometimes falling there!

"Work-work-work!
From weary chime to chime!
Work- work-work-

As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,

Seam, and gusset, and band

Till the heart is sick and the brain

benumbed,

As well as the weary hand.

"Work-work-work

In the dull December light!

And work-work — work,

When the weather is warm and bright!

While underneath the eaves

The brooding swallows cling. As if to show me their sunny backs, And twit me with the spring.

"O! but breathe the breath

Of the cowslip and primrose sweetWith the sky above my head,

And the grass beneath my feet!
For only one short hour

To feel as I used to feel,
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!

"O! but for one short hour

A respite however brief! No blessed leisure for love or hope, But only time for grief!

A little weeping would ease my heart;
But in their briny bed

My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!"

Look at her garments
Clinging like cerements,
Whilst the wave constantly
Drips from her clothing;
Take her up instantly,
Loving, not loathing!

Touch her not scornfully!
Think of her mournfully,
Gently and humanly
Not of the stains of her;
All that remains of her

Now is pure womanly.

Make no deep scrutiny
Into her mutiny,
Rash and undutiful;
Past all dishonor,
Death has left on her
Only the beautiful.

Take her up tenderly -
Lift her with care!
Fashioned so slenderly -
Young and so fair!

Ere her limbs frigidly,
Stiffen too rigidly.
Decently, kindly,

Smooth and compose them;
And her eyes, close them,
Staring so blindly!

Dreadfully staring
Through muddy impurity,
As when with the daring
Last look of despairing
Fixed on futurity.

Perishing gloomily,
Spurred by contumely,
Cold inhumanity
Burning insanity
Into her rest!

Cross her hands humbly,
As if praying dumbly,
Over her breast!

Owning her weakness,
Her evil behavior,

And leaving, with meekness,
Her sins to her Saviour!

FAREWELL, LIFE!

FAREWELL, Life! my senses swim,
And the world is growing dim:
Thronging shadows cloud the light,
Like the advent of the night-
Colder, colder, colder still,
Upwards steals a vapor chill;
Strong the earthy odor grows
I smell the mould above the rose!

Welcome, Life! the spirit strives:
Strength returns, and hope revives;
Cloudy fears and shapes forlorn
Fly like shadows at the morn-
O'er the earth there comes a bloom;
Sunny light for sullen gloom,
Warm perfume for vapor cold-

I smell the rose above the mould!

From where they caught their color she came;

sinned;

a daisy,

My little girl's face I see, I see! My tears, down dropping, with theirs commingle,

And they give my precious one back to me.

SINCE YESTERDAY.

I'm not where I was yesterday,
Though my home be still the same,
For I have lost the veriest friend
Whomever a friend could name;
I'm not where I was yesterday,
Though change there be little to see,
For a part of myself has lapsed away
From Time to Eternity.

How catch his greeting tone, And thus I went up to his door, And they told me he was gone!

Oh! what is Life but a sum of love,
And Death but to lose it all?
Weeds be for those that are left be-
hind,

And not for those that fall!

And now how mighty a sum of love Is lost for ever to me

year

Was most familiar food

To my inmost mind, by night or day, In merry or plaintive mood;

I have lost a hope, that many a year Looked far on a gleaming way, When the walls of Life were closing round,

And the sky was sombre gray.

I thought, how should I see him first, How should our hands first meet, Within his room, — upon the stair,— At the corner of the street?

I thought, where should I hear him first,

Though change there be little to see.