POETRY.

ASPIRATION.

[“ As an eagle siirreth up her meet, thattereth over her young, epreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings He made him ride on the high places."—Deuteronomy =ii., I1-13.]

I.

ALL creatures eagle-born, and eagle-taught,

Whose nests are set upon the giddy height, Who fear the dread abyss, but love the light,

And sheer through love and pain to trust are brought,—

How is it when ye, too, are overwrought, Seiz'd with love-madness, and in upward flight Quit the sure world to hold the sun in sight ?

How fares it with ye when, in falling short Of your desires, you drop again to earth ?

What are your lives the better of the sun ?

And if, as well may be, you should give birth To others soaring higher, what were won ?

No answer,—but wide wings and hearts a-glow ; The sun is there, he draws them, and they go !

IL

0 Thou, the Sun, that rising on the world Of human souls halt wax'd to many a noon,

And wan'd in many a twilight, and gone down

In frequent darkness—like a meteor hurl'd From heaven—how oft hath night's black flag unfurl'd Mock'd at our hopes, and signall'd Thy defeat?

Yet when Thou tamest with new light and heat We rose to meet Thee fresh, and dew-impearl'd.

Help those faint hearts that tremble in the gloom, Unknowing that the inmost work of life Is shy, and needs the darkness as a womb That with the weight of ripening seed is rife.

So we but know Thee living, through the night Waiting in patience, we shall wax in might.

EMILY PFEIFFER..