REUBEN AND ROSE. A TALE OF ROMANCE. THE darkness that hung upon Willumberg's walls Though the valleys were brighten'd by many a beam, Flew back, as if fearing to enter the gloom! "Oh! when shall this horrible darkness disperse!" Said Willumberg's lord to the Seer of the Cave; "It can never dispel," said the wizard of verse, "Till the bright star of chivalry sinks in the wave!" And who was the bright star of chivalry then? Though Youth had scarce written his name on her page. For Willumberg's daughter his young heart had beat,For Rose, who was bright as the spirit of dawn, When with wand dropping diamonds, and silvery feet, It walks o'er the flow'rs of the mountain and lawn, Must Rose, then, from Reuben so fatally sever ? To the wizard she flew, saying, "Tell me, oh, tell! Twice, thrice he repeated "Your Reuben shall rise! " That hero could smile at the terrors of death, When he felt that he died for the sire of his Rose; To the Oder he flew, and there, plunging beneath, In the depth of the billows soon found his repose. How strangely the order of destiny falls! Not long in the waters the warrior lay, When a sunbeam was seen to glance over the walls, And the castle of Willumberg bask'd in the ray! All, all but the soul of the maid was in light, There sorrow and terror lay gloomy and blank: Oft, oft did she pause for the toll of the bell, And saw but the foam of the white billow there. And often as midnight its veil would undraw, As the curl of the surge glitter'd high in the beam. She startled, and saw, through the glimmering shade, A form o'er the waters in majesty glide; She knew 't was her love, though his cheek was decay'd, And his helmet of silver was wash'd by the tide. Was this what the Seer of the Cave had foretold ? Dim, dim through the phantom the moon shot a gleam; 'Twas Reuben, but, ah! he was deathly and cold, And fleeted away like the spell of a dream! Twice, thrice did he rise, and as often she thought From the bank to embrace him, but vain her endeavour! Then, plunging beneath, at a billow she caught, THE WREATH YOU WOVE. THE wreath you wove, the wreath you wove If Pity's hand had stol'n from Love If every rose with gold were tied, Did gems for dewdrops fall, One faded leaf where Love had sigh'd Were sweetly worth them all. The wreath you wove, the wreath you wove Our emblem well may be; Its bloom is yours, but hopeless Love Must keep its tears for me, HYMN OF A VIRGIN OF DELPHI, AT THE TOMB OF HER MOTHER. Oн, lost, for ever lost-no more In holy musings shall we roam, Guide of my heart! still hovering round, Some laurel, by the winds o'erthrown, • The laurel, for the common uses of the temple, for adorning the altars and sweeping the pavement, was supplied by a tree near the fountain of Castalia; but upon all important occasions, they sent to Tempé for their laurel. We find, in Pausanias, that this valley supplied the branches, of which the temple was originally constructed; and Plutarch says, in his Dialogue on Music, "The youth who brings the Tempic laurel to Delphi is always attended by a player on the flute." Αλλά μην και τῳ κατακομιζοντι παιδι την Τεμπικην δαφνην εις Δελφους παρομαρτει αυλητης. "And, though it droop in languor now, "Shall flourish on the Delphic shrine! "Thus, in the vale of earthly sense, "Though sunk awhile the spirit lies, "A viewless hand shall cull it thence, "To bloom immortal in the skies!" All that the young should feel and know, When, meeting on the sacred mount, And guiding every mazy tread. And, when I lead the hymning choir, Thy spirit still, unseen and free, Hovers between my lip and lyre, And weds them into harmony. Flow, Plistus, flow, thy murmuring wave Shall never drop its silv'ry tear Upon so pure, so blest a grave, To memory so entirely dear! |