271 

 THE GULF OF BAYA. 



(from the FRENCH OF DE LEMARTINE.) 



" Vois-tu comme le flot paisible 

 Sur le rivage vient mourir i" 



See how the peaceful wave 



Expires along the shore ; — 

 And see the playful zephyr lave 



Her wings for evermore, 

 And dance upon the buoyant tide ! 

 Come, let us take this fairy skiff and.glide 

 With noiseless effort o'er the seas, 

 Wafted by evening's balmy breeze. 



Swift, and more swift recedes the shore, 



As in thy gentle hand, 

 Kissed by each parting wave, the oar 



Conveys us far from land ; 

 While from the vessel's dipping side 

 I watch the furrowed waves divide. 



What balmy freshness fills each sense, 



On Thetis' bosom bright ; 

 While the pale delegated moon, 



Shines forth the Queen of Night. 

 The bosoms of the half-shut flowers 



Drink in the scented dew ; 

 And rendering back their borrowed powers 



Give forth each varying hue. 



What sounds are these which float the waves ? — 



What music haunts the shore, 

 Prolonged through earth's enchanted caves 



Till echo is no more ? 

 Distrustful of the treacherous stars, 



The seaman trims his sails 

 For home— dear home ! where love prepares 



A sweet repast — and smiling hails 

 His voice amid each jarring sound, 

 While sportive childhood gathers round, 



And every face sweet welcome wears. 



But darker shades at length arise, 



Blending the sea with night ; 

 The land recedes — and dimness lies 



On things of life and light. 

 Now musing melancholy sits alone, 

 And broods upon the past for ever gone :— 

 And startled memory brings upon Uie view. 

 Things which sublimer ages only knew : 

 Proud palaces and temples rudely riven, 

 Which stretch their towering summits up to heaven. 



Hail ! olden Liberty, — hail ! sacred clime, 

 Cradle of virtue, and of deeds sublime, 

 Thy Caesars could not quell ! — Thou art a slave ! 

 Thine empire sunk — thy heroes in the grave ! 

 And yet thy mouldering monuments impart 

 Some touch of greatness to the swelling heart : 

 NO. IV. 2n 



