MY BIRTH-DAY. "My birth-day”—what a different sound When first our scanty years are told, That Time around him binds so fast, How hard that chain will press at last. Who said *. 66 were he ordain'd to run "He would do all that he had done.". Ah, 'tis not thus the voice, that dwells In sober birth-days, speaks to me; * FONTENELLE. tout ce que j'ai fait." "Si je recommençais ma carrière, je ferai Far otherwise-of time it tells, Of counsel mock'd; of talents, made That cross'd my pathway, for his star.- The' imperfect picture o'er again, With pow'r to add, retouch, efface The lights and shades, the joy and pain, How little of the past would stay! All-but that Freedom of the Mind, Which hath been more than wealth to me; Those friendships, in my boyhood twin'd, And kept till now unchangingly; And that dear home, that saving ark, Where Love's true light at last I've found, Cheering within, when all grows dark, And comfortless, and stormy round! FANCY. THE more I've view'd this world, the more I've found, That, fill'd as 'tis with scenes and creatures rare, Fancy commands, within her own bright round, A world of scenes and creatures far more fair. Nor is it that her power can call up there A single charm, that's not from Nature won, Will, entering in the rounded rain-drop, make SONG. FANNY, DEAREST! YES! had I leisure to sigh and mourn, And every smile on my cheek should turn To tears when thou art nigh. But, between love, and wine, and sleep, So busy a life I live, That even the time it would take to weep The Love that's order'd to bathe in wine, Reflected bright in this heart of mine, But, ah! the mirror would cease to shine, |