THE NIGHT-BLOWING CEREUS. 
ANON. 
Can it be true I so fragrant and so fair ! 
To give thy perfume to the dews of night 1 
Can aught so beautiful shrink from the glare, 
And fade and sicken in the coming light ? 
Yes, peerless flower ! the heavens alone exhale 
Thy fragrance ; while the glittering stars 
attest; 
And incense, wafted from the midnight gale. 
Untainted rises from thy spotless breast. 
Sweet emblem of that faith, which seeks, apart 
From human praise, to love and work unseen ; 
That gives to Heaven an undivided heart— 
In sorrow stedfast, and in joy serene! 
Anchored on God, no adverse cloud can dim; 
Her eye, unaltered, still is fixed on Him ! 
The same. —mrs. abdy. 
Fair flower whose coy and diffident revealings 
Bloom to the gaze of pensive Night alone; 
Thou seem’sta record of my wayward feel¬ 
ings,— 
