The night is strangely, wildly dark;
The thunders fiercely roll,
And lightnings flash their angry spark;
But thou absorb'st my soul.
I have no care for storm-king's cloud,
How black soe'er it be;--
No truant thought for earth's dark shroud:
I'm thinking, love, of thee.
To-night the God of battles views,
With deprecating eye,
A scene where demons wild infuse
A thirst for victory.
'Tis His, not mine to guide the storm;
'Tis His to calm the sea:
My spirit hovers 'round thy form.
I'm thinking, love, of thee.
Time's cycle once again has wrought
Its round:--I'm twenty six.
Another mile-stone's gained--sad thought--
Toward deep, silent Styx.
I count no laurels I have won;
Years bring no joy to me,
While yet alone I wander on
In timid thought of thee.
Years six and twenty have been mine
To journey on alone:
Shall I as many more repine,
Before I am undone?
Or shall the journey henceforth take
A brighter phaze for me?
Shall I next six-and-twenty make
My journey, love, with thee?
If so, good-bye grim doubt and fear:
Adieu to arid sand.
All Hail! Oh prospect bright and clear!
All Hail, oasis grand!
Hand joined in hand, heart linked with heart,
Come joy, come hope, come glee!
United, ne'er on earth to part,
I'll always think of thee.
If not, Good-bye! The spirit breaks;
The fountain soon must dry.
If not, good God! The temple shakes;
It totters! What am I?
A wreck of hope!--An aimless thing!
A helmless ship at sea
To whose last spar love still must cling,
And sigh:--Alas!--for thee.
MRS. ANNIE McCARER DARLINGTON.
Annie McCarer Darlington, the daughter of Charles Biles and Catharine
Ross Biles, was born July 20th, 1836, at Willow Grove, in Cecil county,
about four miles east of the village of Brick Meeting House, and near
the old Blue Ball Tavern. She is a cousin of Mrs. Ida McCormick, whose
poetry may be found in this book, their mothers being sisters. Miss
Biles was married November 20th, 1860, to Francis James Darlington, of
West Chester, Pa., and spent the next five years of her life on a farm
near Unionville, formerly the property of the sculptor, Marshall Swayne.
The family then removed to their present residence near Westtown
Friends' Boarding School, where they spend the Summer season. The
Winters are spent with their seven children, in a quiet little home in
the town of Melrose, on the banks of the beautiful Lake Santa Fe, in
Florida. Miss Biles began to write poetry when about eighteen years of
age, and for the ensuing five years was a frequent contributor to _The
Cecil Democrat_, under the _nom de plume_ of "Gertrude St. Orme."