Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-09-15


Thou who didst teach my youthful muse to sing,
Strung her new harp, and claimed her earliest
strain,
Hover thou near me on thy spirit wing,
And | will wake its melody again;
Surely TO thee its sweetest strains belong
Thy love-thy truth-thy constancy, my song.
E'en from the dawning of my spirits life,
No soul had breathed its sympathy for me,
No kindly word had cheered me In the strife;
And [ was like a gnarled and blighted tree,
Which, planted firmly in the storm-gods path,
Scorns all his fury and de6es his wrath.
The world had never loved me. Ia child
Cast on its bosom, fouad that bosom cold;
1t spurned me, when | thought it should have
smiled
And when I offered love, It asked for gold;
And showed me-love, an article of trade
And truth and friendship waiting to be paid!
I loathed it then land each day nerved my soul.
AS with a year Of strength, its hate to brave;
never bowed me to its base control -
And thus my heart became a living grave
OF strong affections. Thou didst set them free,
And all its treasured wealth belongs to thee.
1t is all thine! o thati it were more
And better worth the sacrifice it cost!
Kind friends-thy pleasant homeland all the store
OF love thy life had gathered--these thou lost,
Each would have claimed and each have shared a
part,
Now thou hastleve for love and heart for heart.
Awandersr then-poor, friendless and alone
No house-no lands-no boarded wealth were
mine;
Thou vert my all, and thou vert all my own
All! I was rich to win a heart like thine!
Love that wealth buys, with poverty will fail,
Blu; truth like thine is never kept for sale.
~ have given up all loved for thee alone!"
These were thy words, which memory aye will
keep,
When thou with me didst brave the cold worlds
ifrown,
And on my bosom sobbed thyself to sleep!
Best pledge of earnest truth thy young hearts fears;
And sweetest proof of love those bridal tears!
Well mightthou doubt my poor world-beaten bark,
To bear thy fortunes DER Hfe's stormy sea-
The tempest then was bowling fierce and dark,
And its wild wrath was terrible to thee:
And but one light shone in the murky sky
Twas loves bright star! our hope--our destiny!
vfraat sad unbidden fear--'tis past--tis past!
And though there ling'reth still, that threatning
cloud,
Nc shadow on our spirits can it cast,
For there that light It's powerless to shroud
Beams clearer, purer still, as years depart
'The,bright continuing sunshine of the heart!
Star of our welded life! thy Frightening ray
Hath never faded from the upper sky!
NV shirts darkness thou hast turned to day,
And thy son beams now light that fearful eye.
For this | thank thee, Father! who to me
Did'st give that light, It borroweth from thee!
Nine circling seasons now their course have run,
Since my world frozen heartily love did warm -
Si~nce---when I told thee it was all thine own---
Home for life's sunshine --shelter from its storm---
Thou gentle one did'st nestle by my side,
Andto that heart l clasped thee as my bride!
1t doth not seem so long--yet time hath fled,
For there are sweet and ever blooming flowers
Our daughters come to tell us years have sped,
Their age loves only record of the hours!
md since l left thee, yet another one
Waiteth his sire's first kiss: It's thine, my son!
4 am alone--and far frem them andthee~-
CT u haNo W
When evening shadows fall, l haste to see
The mile of JOY that waitheth till | come---
Leaving behind all thoughts that give us pain,
To clasp my loved onestto my heart again!
Goo keepthem overland il %memory's page
When I am gone shall bear my humble name;
Or with the record Of the passing age
Be link'd one act of mine deserving fame;
Long asthat fame one hearts, treasured In
BE thine the praiserhy love inspiredto win.
God keep thee, ever, dearest! May no cloud
OF sorrow cast its shade upon thy brow;
s0rif 1t come, still beaming'ttfruugh itsshroud,
May love and hope shine beautiful asnow;
Till when the tie that joins our hearts is riven,
1t blendeth with the better light of Heaven.
Richmond, Va.
Perseverance.