POETRY.

LIVE AND LET BE !

LIVE and let be ! The Alpine heaven is bright ; Tired cloudlets sleep along you azure sea ; Soft airs steal by, and whisper, faint and light,

Live and let be !

Live and let be ! Is it not well to rest

Sometimes from labour ? live as do the flowers Bask in the sunshine, lie on Nature's breast,

Not counting hours ?

Not heeding aught but on the pale worn cheek To feel the warm breath of the murmuring pine,. And watch on many a rone-flushel hoary peak Heaven's glory shine ?.

Is it not well ? Sweet, too, at wondering eve To list that melody of tinkling bells, And hear old Echo in her distance weave

Endless farewells !

Night, too, bath here her music, deep and strong,. Of cataracts, solemn as an ancient psalm,

Whence the soul's fever, born in heat and throng,.

Grows cool and calm.

Live and let be ! It will be time enough Hereafter to resume the great world's care, When autumn skies are troubled, winds are rough,.

And trees are bare.

Then to renew the fight, the cause rewaken, Dare all the strife, the burden, and the pain, Rally the weak ; the downcast, the forsaken, Lift up again !

And what thou doest then, in Peace begotten, Shall show like Peace, her looks and tones recall, And, all the frail and faulty Past forgotten, Bring good to all. Till then let nothing past or future vex The untrammel'd soul, 'mid Nature's freedom free ; From thoughts that darken, questions that perplex.

Live, and let be ! A. G. B.