POETRY.

ASPIRATION.

("As an eagle etirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad ber wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings He made him ride on the high places."—Deuteronomy xxxii., 11-13.1 THE callow eagle in its downy nest,

Betwixt the blue above and blue beneath, Or wrapp'd in swirling cloud or misty wreath,

Drops its weak wings and folds itself to rest.

But hardly is it settled ere its breast Is pierced with anguish, which, in face of death,

Drives it to mount on the unquiet breath Of viewless winds upon an unknown quest.

Thou art a callow eagle, 0 my soul ! Forth driven from the home of thy content,

And made to stretch towards some distant goal

Of glory, on thine upward journey sent.

By warning of the Spirit, ere the whole

Frame of thy trust from under thee be rent.

Free Spirit striving in my human breast !

I see thine image when above her young The parent eagle, hovering, has flung

Her shadow 'twixt the sunshine and her nest.

I see thee dark, but know thy gleaming crest Burns in the daybreak, and I have no tongue

To speak a joy no heart hath fitly sung, 'The awful joy of thy divine unrest.

0 mighty blades of shadow-spreading wings

Unfurl'd above me ! Will ye bear me up

When I, in mounting with ye t'wards the springs

Of light, from lack of strength or faith shall drop ? Will ye not leave me till in loftier rings

Of flight t'wards God I need no earthlier prop ? EMILY PFEIFFER.