TO  A  GIRL,  WHO  WAS  COMPLAINING  THAT
SHE  HAD  FORGOTTEN  HER  SISTER'S
BIRTHDAY

Grieve  not  though  Mary's  birthday  pass'd

Without  one  joyous  rhyme  ;
When  days  are  bright,  and  hours  fly  fast,

Who  measures  bliss  by  time  ?

When  grief  has  dimmed  our  darkling  way,

Such  lonely  gleams  are  dear  :
But  who  can  mark  one  happy  day,

If  happy  through  the  year  ?

Such  sweet  forgetfulness  be  thine  !

So  ever  live  and  love  !  lO

No  need  of  gift,  or  votive  line.
The  fond,  glad  heart  to  prove.
Nov.  1810.
474  MISCELLANEOUS  POEMS


LINES   SUGGESTED  BY  THE  REMEMBRANCE
OF  AN  EARLY  BUT  LONG-LOST  FRIEND

O  BLESsiiD  gem,  of  saintly,  spotless  kind.
Too  pure  for  earthly  casket  long  to  hide  !
Thou  sparkiest  now  with  the  true  light,  supplied
From  heaven's  eternal  fountain,  where  enshrined
God  hides  Himself  in  brightness.     Too  refined
For  mortal  gaze,  thou  shin'st  without  a  stain.
Yet  mayst  thou,  when  my  spirit  springs  amain
Toward  heaven,  though  faintly,   strike  the  eye  of

mind
And  draw  thought  upward,  as  with  polar  gleam.
And  shed  a  holy  glow   o'er  prayer,   and  hope,   and

dream !  lo

Aug.  1810.
ON  VISITING  THE  RUINS   OF  FARLEIGH
CASTLE,   SOMERSETSHIRE

Thou,  who  in  Farleigh's  ivied  bower,

Sit'st  musing  on  remember'd  power.
To  whom  reflection's  eye  recalls

The  glories  of  her  roofless  halls ;

Reminded  by  the  fitful  breeze

Of  long-forgotten  minstrelsies ;

By  shrubs  that  crown  the  turret's  height.
Of  the  red  flag  that  stream'd  so  bright

When  warriors  laid  them  here  to  rest,

And  bowed  to  dames  the  blood-dyed  crest,         lO

And  Cromwell  sheath'd  his  untired  sword

To  share  the  feast  with  Hungerford  : —

Though  mournful,  o'er  thy  musing  heart

The  gleam  of  faded  glories  dart,

Give  not  that  rising  sigh  its  way.
