MOONLIGHT MEMORIES. BY B. SIMMONS. I. They say Deceit and Change divide The empire of this world below; That, whelm'd by Time's resistless tide, Love's fountain ebbs, no more to flow. Dawn-brow'd Madonna , deem not so, While to my truth yon Moon in heaven I loved thee by, so long ago, Is still a faithful "witness" given! II. All brightly round, that mellow Moon Rose o'er thy bright, serene abode, When first to win thy smiles' sweet boon My tears of stormy passion flowed. Where Woodburn's larches veil'd our road, I sued thy cheek's averted grace, And, while its lustre paled and glowed, Drank the blest sunshine of thy face. III. And when the darkening Fate, that threw Its waste of seas between us, Sweet, With refluent wave restored me to The soundless music of thy feet, How wild my heart's delighted beat, Once more beneath the mulberry bough, To see the branching shadows fleet Before thy bright approaching brow! IV. Then rose again the Moon's sweet charm, Not in her full and orbEd glow, But young and sparkling as thy form That moved a sister-moon below. The rose-breeze round thee loved to blow-- Blue Evening o'er thee bent and smiled-- Rejoicing Nature seemed to know, And own, her wildly-gracious child. V. Forth came the Stars, as if to keep Fond watch along thy sinless way; While thy pure eyes, through Ether deep, Sought out lone Hesper's diamond ray, Half shy, half sad, to hear me say, That haply, mid the tearless bliss Of that far world we yet should stray, When we have burst the bonds of this. VI. Too short and shining were those hours I loved, enchanted, by thy side! Hoarding the wealth of myrtle-flowers That in thy dazzling bosom died. Sweet Loiterer by Glenarra's tide, Dost thou not sometimes breathe a prayer For Him who never failed to glide At eve to watch and worship there? VII. Fate's storms again have swept the scene, And, for that fair Moon's summer gleam, Through winter's snow clouds drifting keen I hail at midnight now her beam. Soft may its light this moment stream, My folded Flower! upon thy rest, And, melting through thy placid dream, This heart's unshaken faith attest. VIII. Yes--Rainbow of my ruined youth, Now shining o'er the wreck in vain! Thy rosy tints of grace and truth Life's evening clouds shall long retain. My very doom has less of pain To feel that, ere from Time's dark river Thy form or soul could take one stain, Despair between us came for ever. IX. And if, as sages still avow, The rites once paid on hill and grove To Beings beautiful as thou, To Dian, Hebe, and to Love, Were so imperishably wove Of fancies lovely and elysian, Their spirit to this hour must rove The earth a blest abiding vision; [29] X. Then surely round that mountain rude, And Bridgeton's rill and pathway lone, In years to come, when thon, the Wooed, And thy fond Worshipper are gone, Each suppliant prayer, each ardent tone, Each vow the heart could once supply, Whose every pulse was there thine own, In many an evening breeze will sigh.