Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/47

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Awake my slumbering powers, confirm my heart,
Renew my faith—restore my wonted rest,
And teach me what thy will decrees is best;
On this firm rock, Oh, let my feet be staid,
Until they tread that lone vale dark with shade,
'Till my faint heart shall feel its latest pain,
And throb no more, in this cold breast again,
'Till dying life to life eternal tend,
Hope spring to joy, and faith in vision end.






ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF A VENERABLE FRIEND.


PAST was the day, and all its varied scenes
Had sunk to rest. Now came the twilight grey
With weary step; and then the queen of night,
With graceful motion, and with brow serene,
Smil'd on the eye. But soon her faded cheek
All pale and alter'd sunk behind the cloud:
Thence rising slowly, with a sickly look
And glance averted, fled with hasty step
To hide her head among the shades of night.