The Love of Flowers................................... Good Advice of Bishop Kennett.. Family Devotion.. The birds, they seem to send, Their being with the sky. And oh, may I bestow, My first, last, thoughts on Heaven; And, may my bosom glow, With thanks each morn and even! THY FATHER'S LOVE. THY mother bade me weave a lay, Though tuneless all it be ; Though words but mark the fond excess Which thou hast wrought in me; And though my harp's degenerate chords O, could my heart flown to my tongue Or did my harp, now all unstrung, Then would I strike a chord should chain The mind, and draw forth tears like rain, When I am in the ground; But thou, should heaven thy life prolong, But it may be, my boy, thy life, It may be that ere manhood's strife, And ne'er should wish of mine be lent, Thy happy soul's release; He metes thy days, my little one, Who gave thee life- His will be done! And this world many a peril hath, Toils, cares, and griefs, lie in the path, Will dash the gladness from thy brow, O'er all thou lovedst, as earth receives But ever pure may be thy breast, In grief in joy the same; And never may dishonor rest Its cloud upon thy name; But mayst thou early learn to prize Nor let the race absorb thy soul, Thy mother! - never may her eye And mayst thou to man's sterner worth Her love, which time cannot estrange, And when at length into thy breast Death's chilling tremors creep, O mayst thou sink into its rest, As to a gentle sleep! Unreached by doubt unchafed by pain, Leaving behind thee not a stain |