Ruth and Naomi

Nay do not ask—entreat me not—no;

O! no I will not leave thy side;

Whither thou goest I will go.

Where thou abidest, I’ll abide.

Through life—in death—my soul to thine,

Shall cleave as fond as first it clave;

Thy home, thy people, shall be mine,

Thy God, my God, thy grave, my grave.

The Burial Place

In this hallow’d spot, where nature showers

Her summer smiles from fair and stainless skies,

Affection’s hand may strew her dewy flowers,

Whose fragrant incense from the grave shall rise.

So, where the tomb’s dull silence finds an end,

The blessed dead, to endless youth shall rise;

And hear th’ archangel’s thrilling summons blend

Its tone with anthems from the upper skies.

There shall the good of earth be found at last,

Where dazzling streams and vernal fields expand;

Where Love her crown attains—her trials past—

And fill’d with rapture hails the “better land”!

Niagara River

Oh! I have thought, and thinking sigh’d—

How like to thee, thou restless tide!

May be the lot, the life of him,

Who roams along thy waters brim!

Though what alternate shades of wo,

And flowers of joy, my path may go

How many an humble, still retreat,

May rise to court my weary feet.

While still pursuing, still unblest,

I wander on, nor dare to rest!

Our birth is nothing, but our death begun;

As tapers waste, that instant they take fire.

My Mother

My Mother! I can never tell

Of all thy tenderness;

For thou hast loved—loved much too well

And watch’d too oft, to bless.

But as the|thy evening hours decline

With all life’s labor past,

No joy shall be so great as mine

To cheer them, while they last

My Mother? every nerve shall strain

To take away thy care;

Couldst thou but live thy years again,

I would thy trials share

To a Lady who
Gave a gold chain to promote the cause of Temperance

Would that thou hads’t a voice[,] graceful toy,

To tell me of the giver.—Fancy paints,

A young and radiant|iridescent brow, and a clear eye,

Kindling with golden light, as thou wert thrown,

Off from the polish’d neck. Thou wert perchance

Some favor’d gift—the talisman of Love.

Or friendship’s hight memento. Still t’is well

That thou art here. Henceforth that Love shall be

Remembered by those holy deeds that bless

And save mankind. Nor could blest friendship

Ask a truer token, than such heaven wrought links

As bind the soul to duty.

God, all and in all

The beauties of nature delight the eye of sense, the beauties of art delight the eye of intellect; and the beauties of grace, delight the eye of faith, and the eye of faith will see grace manifested, both in the beauties of nature and of art, and so seeing will look upward and adore Him who gave such gifts to man till art and nature, no longer considered as in themselves or of themselves, fade away, and sense, and intellect, and faith, uniting their joint and kindred testimony, proclaim with one voice God to be “all and in all.”

Night.

Night is the time to weep;

To wet with unseen tears

Those graves of memory where sleep

The joys of other years

Hopes that were Angels in their birth,

But perished young like things of earth!

Night is the time to pray.

Our Saviour oft withdrew

To desert mountains far away,

So will his followers do;|.

Steal from the throng to haunts unknown|untrod

And hold communion there with God.

Illusions of Earth.

This world is all a fleeting show,

For man’s illusions given;

The smiles of joy, the tears of wo,

Deceitful shine, deceitful flow

There’s nothing true but heaven!

And false the light on glories plume,

And|As fading hues of even;

And love, and hope, and beauty’s bloom

And blossoms gathered for the tomb;

There’s nothing true|bright but heaven!

Universal Prayer

If I am right, thy grace impart,

Still in the right to stay;

If I am wrong, oh! teach my heart

To find that better way!

Teach me to feel another’s wo

To hide the fault I see;

That mercy I to other’s show;

That mercy show to me.

This day be bread and peace my lot

All else beneath the sun

Thou knowes’t if best, bestow’d or not

And let thy will be done!

God’s knowledge extendeth to all things

God knoweth all things. His eye seeth every precious thing. He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heavens—The darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.—He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.—Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world—Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto him|the eyes with whom we have to do.

Shall any teach God knowledge? He that planteth the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that teachest|teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know?

God’s Omnipresence

There is an unseen Power around,

Existing in the silent air:

Where treadeth man, where space is found,

Unheard, unknown, that power is there.

When smiles the pious Christian’s soul,

And scenes of horror daunt his eye,

He hears it wisper’d [sic] in|thro’ the air,

A Power of mercy still is nigh.

The power that watches, guides, defends,

Till man become a lifeless clod,

Till earth is nought—nought earthly friends

That omnipresent power—is God.

Midnight.

As yet t’is midnight deep! The weary clouds

Slow meeting, mingle into solemn glow,

Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep,

Let me associate with the serious night

And contemplation her sedate compeer;

Let me shake off the instrusive cares of day

And lay the medling senses all aside

That very power that moulds a tear

And bids it tickle from its source,

That law preserves the earth a sphere!

And guides the planets in their counsel.