O! there are many brilliant things
To light this darksome life,
And many bright imaginings
With wild enjoyment rife.
The flashing of the sparkling stream--
The billows bounding free--
The glittering of the sunny beam
Upon the dark green sea.
The lightning flash that rends the air--
The meteor's dazzling light
That fiercely gleams with fitful glare
Amid the starless night.
And there are many lovely things
That grace the smiling earth--
The gushing of a thousand springs--
The laughing streamlet's mirth--
The swift deer bounding through the wood--
The merry singing bird;--
Its sweet tones in the solitude
Of lonely forests heard.
The greenwood and the grassy plain--
The silent mountain glen
Where nature sways her wild domain,
Far from the haunts of men.
The mountain where the cedars high
Bend to the passing breeze--
The murm'ring pines that softly sigh--
The music of the trees--
The sparkling dew-drop on the grass--
The river's golden sand--
The flitting of the shades which pass
In grandeur o'er the land.
The whippoorwill's sad cry at night,
Heard from some lonely dell--
The streaming of the pale moonlight,
Old nature's magic spell.
The rainbow's arch that spans the sky--
The shining stars above--
The glancing of a kindling eye--
The tones of one we love.
The glowing kiss all fondly pressed
On lips both warm and true--
The beating of a tender breast,
Which only throbs for you.
These gild with sunshine and delight
The paths of life, and throw
Upon its darkling streams a bright,
And never fading glow.
By what _bizzarrerie_ does it happen that Sardanapalus is discovered
in Greek literature under the name of Tenos Concoleros?
For the Southern Literary Messenger.