From the French of CHARLES, DUKE OF ORLEANS.
Translation of HENRY FRANCIS CARY.
BREAK, BREAK, BREAK.
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman's boy
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on,
To the haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON.
LAVENDER.
How prone we are to hide and hoard
Each little treasure time has stored,
To tell of happy hours!
We lay aside with tender care
A tattered book, a lock of hair,
A bunch of faded flowers.
When death has led with silent hand
Our darlings to the "Silent Land,"
Awhile we sit bereft;
But time goes on; anon we rise,
Our dead are buried from our eyes,
We gather what is left.
The books they loved, the songs they sang,
The little flute whose music rang
So cheerily of old;
The pictures we had watched them paint,
The last plucked flower, with odor faint,
That fell from fingers cold.
We smooth and fold with reverent care
The robes they living used to wear;
And painful pulses stir
As o'er the relics of our dead,
With bitter rain of tears, we spread
Pale purple lavender.
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