'Twas halved by that light all radiently,
As it lit her up to eternity.
Then the future opened its ocult scroll.
And his own inward man was refined to soul,
And straightway it rose to the realms above,
On the wings of thought till it joined his love,
And though from that beauteous trance he woke
Still linger'd the thought--and he called it--hope!

* * * * *


LOVE'S KERCHIEF.

(_For the Mirror._)


It was a custom in my time to look through a handkerchief at the new year's
moon, and as many moons as ye saw (multiplied by the handkerchief,) so
many years would ye be before ye were wed.

When sunset and moon-rise
Chill and burn at once on the earth--
When love-tears and love-sighs
Tickle up boisterous mirth--
When fate-stars are shooting,
Sparks of love to the maid
To fill her funeral eye with light,
And owlets are hooting
Her sire's ghost, which she's unlaid