THE MARINER’S SONG.

    O the sea, the sea!  I love the sea! 
    For nothing on earth seems half as free
    As its crested waves; they mount on high,
    And seem to sport with the star-gemmed sky. 
    Talk as you will of the land and shore;
    Give me the sea, and I ask no more. 
    I love to float on the ocean deep,
    To be by its motion rocked to sleep;
    Or to sit for hours and watch the spray,
    Marking the course of our outward way,
    While upward far in a cloudless sky
    With a shriek the wild bird passeth by. 
    And when above are the threatening clouds,
    And the wild wind whistles ’mid the shrouds,
    Our masts bend low till they kiss the wave,
    As beckoning one from its ocean cave,
    Then hurra for the sea!  I love its foam,
    And over it like a bird would roam. 
    There is that’s dear in a mountain home,
    With dog and gun ’mid the woods to roam;
    And city life hath a thousand joys,
    That quiver amid its ceaseless noise;
    Yet nothing on land can give to me
    Such joy as that of the pathless sea. 
    When morning comes, and the sun’s first rays
    All around our gallant topmast plays,
    My heart bounds forth with rapturous glee,
    O, then, ’t is then that I love the sea! 
    Talk as you will of the land and shore;
    Give me the sea, and I ask no more!

LOVE’S LAST WORDS.

    They knew that she was going
        To holier, better spheres,
    Yet they could not stay the flowing
        Of their tears;
    And they bent above in sorrow,
        Like mourners o’er a tomb,
    For they knew that on the morrow
        There’d be gloom. 
    There was one among the number
        Who had watched the dying’s breath,
    With an eye that would not slumber
        Until death. 
    There, as he bent above her,
        He whispered in her ear
    How fondly he did love her,
        Her most dear. 
    “One word, ’t will comfort send me,
        When early spring appears,
    And o’er thy grave I bend me
        In my tears. 
    A single word now spoken
        Shall be kept in Memory’s shrine,
    Where the dearest treasured token
        Shall be thine.” 
    She pressed his hand-she knew him-
        With the fervor of a child;
    And, looking fondly to him,
        Sweetly smiled. 
    And, smiling thus, she started
        For her glorious home above,
    And her last breath, as it parted,
        Whispered “Love.”

LIGHT IN DARKNESS.