  BY MISS E. W. BARNES. It quivered on a bended spray— A rain-drop, bright and clear— Though beautiful, it waked sad thoughts, 'Twas so like sorrow's tear. And on its crystal surface lay Reflected, calm as heaven, The glories of the summer sky, With purple tints of even; And earth's transcendent loveliness Was also on its breast, As with her dewy smiles she made The parting sunbeam blest. I loved the rain-drop, as it hung So trustingly the while— The verdant earth, the glowing heaven Reflected in its smile. A symbol seemed it to mine eye Of the loving human heart, That lives but in the smile of God, Which earth and heaven impart. I gazed into its tiny sphere— In miniature it lay, A world of beauty, trembling there, And soon to pass away— To pass from earth, and leave no trace, But the memory divine Of beauty, which, within the heart, Erects its own pure shrine. The breeze passed by; it swayed the bough Where the sweet gem was hung; But, with tenacious grasp, it still Fondly and closely clung. Nor, till with a resistless power The mighty wind swept by, Did the frail thing, so beautiful, In shattered fragments lie. And thus, though moved by every breeze That sweeps along our way, Our hearts still cling to life, and still The world asserts its sway. But, like the rain-drop, pure and clear, That hangs upon the bough, Oh! soul of mine, give back earth's light, Reflect its glories, thou! Give back the summer's rosy tints, The verdant tree, the flower; Give back the mountain and the mead, The summer sun and shower. But ah! in thy far deeper depths May heaven reflected lie; Its holy calm—its voiceless wave, Serene as yon soft sky. Unruffled be those silent depths— Calm, though the tempest lower. My Saviour! walk thou on the wave, And let it feel thy power. Speak to the troubled waters, Peace, And passion ne'er shall rise, Nor doubt, nor care, to dim the light That greets me from the skies. |
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