MARKET-NIGHT.

‘ O Winds, howl not so long and loud;

Nor with your vengeance arm the snow:

Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud;

And let the twinkling Star-beams glow.

‘ Now sweeping floods rush down the slope,

Wide scattering ruin.— Stars, shine soon!

No other light my Love can hope;

Midnight will want the joyous Moon.

‘ O guardian Spirits!— Ye that dwell

Where woods, and pits, and hollow ways,

The lone night-trav'ler' s fancy swell

With fearful tales, of older days,—

‘ Press round him:— guide his willing steed

Through darkness, dangers, currents, snows;

Wait where, from shelt'ring thickets freed,

The dreary Heath's rude whirlwind blows.

‘ From darkness rushing o'er his way,

The Thorn's white load it bears on high!

Where the short furze all shrouded lay,

Mounts the dried grass;— Earth's bosom dry.

‘ Then o'er the Hill with furious sweep

It rends the elevated tree —

Sure-footed beast, thy road thou'lt keep;

Nor storm nor darkness startles thee!

‘ O blest assurance, ( trusty steed,)

To thee the buried road is known;

Home, all the spur thy footsteps need,

When loose the frozen rein is thrown,

‘ Between the roaring blasts that shake

The naked Elder at the door,

Though not one prattler to me speak,

Their sleeping sighs delight me more.

‘ Sound is their rest:— they little know

What pain, what cold, their Father feels;

But dream, perhaps, they see him now,

While each the promis'd Orange peels.

Would it were so!— the fire burns bright,

And on the warming trencher gleams;

In Expectation's raptur'd sight

How precious his arrival seems!

‘ I'll look abroad!—‘ tis piercing cold!—

How the bleak wind assails his breast!

Yet some faint light mine eyes, behold:

The storm is verging o'er the West.

‘ There shines a Star!— O welcome sight!—

Through the thin vapours brightening still!

Yet,‘ twas beneath the fairest night

The murd'rer stained yon lonely Hill.

‘ Mercy, kind Heav'n! such thoughts dispel!

No voice, no footstep can I hear!

( Where Night and Silence brooding dwell,

Spreads thy cold reign, heart-chilling Fear. )

‘ Distressing hour! uncertain fate!

O Mercy, Mercy, guide him home!—

Hark!— then I heard the distant gate;—

Repeat it, Echo; quickly, come!

‘ One minute now will ease my fears —

Or, still more wretched must I be?

No: surely Heaven has spar'd our tears:

I see him, cloath'd in snow;—‘ tis he.—

‘ Where have you stay'd? put down your load.

How have you borne the storm, the cold?

What horrors did I not forebode —

That Beast is worth his weight in gold.’

Thus spoke the joyful Wife;— then ran

And hid in grateful steams her head:

Dapple was hous'd, the hungry Man

With joy glanc'd o'er the Children's bed.

‘ What, all asleep!— so best;’ he cried:

O what a night I've travell'd through!

Unseen, unheard, I might have died;

But Heaven has brought me safe to you.

‘ Dear Partner of my nights and days,

That smile becomes thee!— Let us then

Learn, though mishap may cross our ways,

It is not ours to reckon when.’