ELEGIAC STANZAS.

Though sorrow long has worn my heart;

Though every day I've, counted o'er

Hath brought a new and, quickening smart

To wounds that rankled fresh before;

Though in my earliest life bereft

Of tender links by nature tied;

Though hope deceived, and pleasure left;

Though friends betrayed and foes belied;

I still had hopes — for hope will stay

After the sunset of delight;

So like the star which ushers day,

We scarce can think it heralds night!—

I hoped that, after all its strife,

My weary heart at length should rest.

And, feinting from the waves of life,

Find harbor in a brother's breast.

That brother's breast was warm with truth,

Was bright with honor's purest ray;

He was the dearest, gentlest youth —

Ah, why then was he torn away?

He should have stayed, have lingered here

To soothe his Julia's every woe;

He should have chased each bitter tear,

And not have caused those tears to flow.

We saw within his soul expand

The fruits of genius, nurst by taste;

While Science, with a fostering hand,

Upon his brow her chaplet placed.

We saw, by bright degrees, his mind

Grow rich in all that makes men dear;

Enlightened, social, and refined,

In friendship firm, in love sincere.

Such was the youth we loved so well,

And such the hopes that fate denied;—

We loved, but ah! could scarcely tell

How deep, how dearly, till he died!

Close as the fondest links could strain,

Twined with my very heart he grew;

And by that fate which breaks the chain,

The heart is almost broken too.