182 THE BRIDE.
Turn ghastly pale, and the majestic sire Shrink as with smother'd sorrow, when he gave His darling to an untried guardianship, And to a far-off clinae.
Haply his thought
Traversal the grass-grown praiiies, and the shore Of the cold lakes; or those o'erhanging cliffs, And pathless mountain-tops, that rose to bar Her log-rear 'd mansion from the anxious eye Of kindred and of friend. Even triflers felt How strong and beautiful is woman's love, Which, taking in its hand its thornless joys, The tenderest melodies of tuneful years, Yea ! and its own life also lays them all Meek and unblenching, on a mortal's breast, Reserving nought, save that unspoken hope Which hath its root in God.
Mock not with mirth
A scene like this, ye laughter-loving ones ; The licens'd jester's lip, the dancer's heel What do they here ?
Joy, serious and sublime, Such as doth nerve the energies of prayer, Should swell the bosom, when a maiden's hand, Fill'd with life's dewy flow'rets, girdeth on That harness which the ministry of death Alone unlooseth, but whose fearful power May stamp the sentence of eternity.
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