Emblem of joys for ever past! See so desolate and lone,

The sear-leaf waving in the blast, That loves to linger to the last, Around those sweets for ever gone.

Thus the heart with fond heart meeting, Blooms as sweet, as fair and gay;

Truth, love, and rapture, wildly beating, Glows with a light as pure, tho' fleeting, As the beam of opening day.

But slighted, with unkindness aching, Shed each sweet, each pleasure flown;

Yet morning dreams, still fondly waking, Cling round the heart with anguish breaking, And mourn its joys for ever gone.

CXVIII.

THE SOLDIER'S RETURN.

'Twas in the ev'ning of a wintry day,

When safe returning from a long campaign, Allen, o'ertoil'd and weary with the way,

Came home to see his Sally once again.

His batter'd arms he carelessly threw down,
And view'd his Sally with enraptur'd eyes;
But she receiv'd him with a modest frown,
She knew not Allen in his rough disguise.

His hair was knotted, and his beard unshorn;
His batter'd 'coutrements about him hung;
A tear of pleasure did his cheeks adorn,

And blessings fell in torrents from his tongue.

"Am I so alter'd, by this cruel trade,

That you, your faithful Allen, have forgot?
Or has your heart unto some other stray'd?
Ah! why did I escape the murd'ring shot?"

When this she heard, her wonted colour fled,

She ran and sunk upon her Allen's breast, All pale awhile she look'd like one that's dead;

He kiss'd, she breath'd, and all her love confess'd.

"Oh! my delight, though alter'd as thou art, Reduc'd by honest courage to this strait,

Thou art the golden treasure of my heart,

My long-lost husband, and my wish'd-for mate.”

CXVXIX.

OUR YOUTH WILL FADE".

AIR-When time who steals our years away.

Our youth will fade, as fades the flower,
That now adorns the board,

Nor can the bloom, by earthly power,

Be e'er again restor❜d.

The fairest flower the Florist rears,

Beneath the genial ray,

Like man, within its bosom bears

The seeds of sure decay.

Then let us live as those who know,

Howe'er the scene may seem,
Our joys, our sorrows, here below

Will fade like passing dream.

* This piece was written at the request of a member of the Paisley

Club 1818.

The flowers that boast the richest hue

Too oft no fragrance give;

Fit emblem of the gaudy few,
Who rather breathe than live.

But twine for us a modest wreath
Of flowers that deck the field,
And which, tho' lowly laid in death,
Still sweetest odours yield.

Then let us live as those who know,
Howe'er the scene may seem,
Our joys, our sorrows, here below
Will fade like passing dream.

CXX.

OH! BRIGHT ROSE THE SUN.

AIR-Jessie, the flow'r o' Dumblane.

Oh! bright rose the sun on the beautiful ocean,
His golden beams flash'd from the murmuring tide,
While each little wave, with a trembling commotion,
Alternately broke on the tall vessel's side ;

The sails were all swell'd with the breeze of the morning,
She gallantly stemm'd the dark wave of the sea,
And a proud union ensign her mast-head adorning,
Show'd a frigate of Britain, the land of the free.

Afar on the billows the vessel was heaving,

The dark rocky shore scarcely seen from the mast, While stretch'd on a cliff gentle Ella lay grieving, And mournfully sigh'd to the waves that roll'd past. Ah! when will my William, from danger returning, Display his dear flag o'er this wave beaten shore, Ah! when will he hush all my sighing and mourning, Saying, sweetly; "My Ella, be anxious no more."

When far in th' horizon a white speck appearing,
Grew gradually nearer, and larger to view,
And soon a brave frigate, before the winds steering,
Display'd her broad flag o'er a brave British crew;
And soon the brave William, his Ella caressing,

With fondest endearment dispell'd all her fear,
And cried, as his lips to her cheek he was pressing,

"Never more will I leave thee, sweet Ella, my dear!”