Arabella [pp. 766-769]

/Ilrabella: 3 Story of the Texian Revolution.
Wraking supinely from her piteous trance,
As all unconscious of her glaring charms,
She asks, "Where is he?" with dissembled glance,
And languishes within her lover's arms.
Thus woke our ladiy from herfeint,
Thus renewed her zealous plaint.
Around his home; and as they go forth
They thus commune on love, anld-so-forth.
Mary.-And this
Is the fifth summer of our union. Tears
As hours have flown, when we were given at school
The privilege all to stroll a day together
Over the fields. And in the clime above,
If the redeem'd were free to choose the life,
The friend of life eternal thou shouldst be,
And thy twin cherubs, mine-thy place my home.
Father of love, the sinful thought forgive,
For we are weak —scarce knowing why we live.
Campbell.-Dost thou believe in dreams,
Those visitations to the unseen world,
Where life is ridiculed to such effect
We but return in shame?
Mary-At times, —
They come as symbols of important scenes
In the dark future; and by Heaven are given
To warn our preparation.
Campbell. —I've had a fearful dream
And fear to tell, lest as the pestilent wind
From the Eastern swamps, it may infuse within
The untroubled fountains of thy healthful blood
A curdling poison.
-,Vary.-Oh! fear thee not, my life;
Will the relation alter Heaven's decree,
Or move thy faith in mine?
CainpbeU. —It was a fearful dream.
I saw two eagles on a lofty rock,
O'erlooking the wide ocean, build their nest;
And oft they left, by turns, their young, and came
With food; and when, as circling down,
The impatient eaglets heard their rustling wings,
They scream'd and flutter'd in their high-born joy.
Anron a vulture hovered round the cliff,
But like a dove it seem'd. And, flying off,
One of the parent eagles by its side
Skimmed the blue air. And as they farther flew
The vulture changed into a hideous snake,
And coiling round the bird in strangling folds,
After a mighty struggle down it brought ~
The eagle to the sea, wh ere both were lost.
Mary.-Dost tho u dr ead
Aught of th e ki nd in m e?
Campbell.-I would as soon
Doubt thy affection.
Matry. —T hen give thy he art no fear,
'Twas but the passing phantom of a dream.
And let us not, who've'cou nter ed r eal dangers
S tart at a sh a dow.
'Tis a holy time.
The evening wind s o'er the Savan nah ste al,
Like rising voices of remembcr'd fr iend s
Through the dim vista of departed years.
The mocking-bird, that joyous chorister,
From the dark woods repeats the warblings all
Of all the birds of day. Hollow and dull
The unearthly jargon of the wizard owal
Breaks fitfully on the ear; and mournfully
The long howl of the solitary wolf
Echoes around. F~ar o'er the landscape gleams
The fires of war, which may the word of Peace
Extinguish soon. The sparkling firmament
Displays innumerable twinkling stars,
Here only visible (6). Some on the tops
Of the far woods appear to dance; and one
ls peeping o'er our roof; while myriads fixed,
Above the sky, send rays of glory down
From the outlines of eternity! What a w-orld
Of beauty and of older! —what a scene
1.
"Sweet Americano, how
Sheall I leav e thee? Let me die,
Smoothing o'er thy Northern brow,
Gazing in thy Saxon eye!
2.
Why do Southern daughters, all,
Love thy country's daring sons?
They are noble, brave anid tall;
Ours are weak and treacherous ones.
3.
" Turn not blushingly aside, Smile into my heart again.
Shall 1 be the soldier's bride? Have I won thee, love, in vain?
4.
" Yes! it coineth from thy lip,
As thunders o'er the calm profound,
To the homeward-sailing ship,
When the night is brooding round.
"Still before thee let me be,
Youth all lovely as thou art;
Nearer-still too far from me Here I clasp thee to my heart!"
As on a summer's eve, while yet the sun
Crimsons the clouds against the horizon,
Electric gleams in quick succession show,
Those clouds of crimson in a deeper glow,
So changed the colors of her cheek, while she
Clung to his lips in passion's phrenzied throe.
Relaxed at length, she drops upon his knee
Iii mournful and confiding syncope,
As lovely as corse in pride unveiled for show.
"Spirit of beauty, can it be
I should break my faith for thee?
I, whose wife may now await
My coming at the garden-gate;
Or be braiding up the curls,
Of our trim-born Yankee girls,
As to show the mingled graces,
Of our features in their faces.
'Tis danger longer to remain;
Arise, return thee home again.
Cometh Altono, dark and grim,
GlIad I leave thee here to him.
In mercy yet the wretch shall live,
FoI Ihee-how else could I forgive?
Farewell, sweet Spaniard, may thy grief
Soon find elsewhere a sweet relief;
Ten hours gallop o'er the prairie
Arabella's lost in Mary."
In caution stealing from the grove,
He left the dark-eyed beauty there,
To wake from phantasies of love,
To unrequited love's despair.
And speeding as a prisoner broke,
Thro' cunning, from a giant's grasp,
He sought the consort of his yoke,
And met her in a warmer clasp.
768
[NovF,mBER,
5.
"Pis evening, and across the prairie
Caiiil)bell wanders with his Mary,