Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/424

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408 AMANDA L, R. DUFOUR, [1840-50. Every passion grant us grace Meekly to subdue ; Let not clouds conceal thy face From our human view. Teach us hopefully to live, Give us faith sincere ; Help us freely to forgive Faults we all must share. Let us pardon, let us love All our foes below ; And thy blessings from above Ask thee to bestow. May our hearts fear none but thee. May we seek but heaven, Live but for eternity. By thy love forgiven. REVERIES. In the twilight I am sitting, Dreamily ; O'er my soul are phantoms flitting Mournfully. And the winds without were sighing. And within dark shadows lying, And my restless heart keeps throbbing To the night-wind's sobbing, sobbing Plaintively. Embers on the hearth-stone lying Fade away ; Emblems, to my spirit sighing, Of decay. So hope's light is slowly flitting From my heart as thus I'm sitting Drearily. And my lonely spirit, roaming. Loves to flee Through the past's uncertain gloaming, Wild and free. For amid her hours of sadness. Comes a music-tone of gladness. Comes a thrill of joy's sweet measure Echo of some long-lost pleasure O'er life's sea. Siren songs of days departed Fill the air, Ere I grew so weary-hearted. Dark with care ; Ere the glorious wings of trust Had trailed earthward to the dust ; And the halcyon days were gone. Over which Love's summer shone, "Warm and fair. Darker shadows now are lying On the floor; And the wind is sadly sighing Through the door. Watching still the dying embers. Suddenly my soul remembers A deep autumn sky at midnight, When the pale and gentle starlight Earth beamed o'er. I remember words then spoken. Soft and low ; Vows, too, that have all been broken Long ago. Scarcely yet the light has faded. Scarcely dead the wreath love braided, Though within my heart are lying Hope's last embers, fading, dying, Pale and low. Spirit mine, so wildly roaming, Fai" away. Cease to wander 'mid the gloam*g> No more stray : / Pray that hope be given, / Think of tranquil rest in hea^'^n? Where, no more with sorrowiaden, Souls, within that blessed Ajlenn, Dwell alway.