Light the nuptial torch,
And say the glad, yet solemn rite, that knits
The youth and maiden.  Happy days to them
That wed this evening!—­a long life of love,
And blooming sons and daughters!  Happy they
Born at this hour,—­for they shall see an age
Whiter and holier than the past, and go
Late to their graves.  Men shall wear softer hearts,
And shudder at the butcheries of war,
As now at other murders.

Hapless Greece! 
Enough of blood has wet thy rocks, and stained
Thy rivers; deep enough thy chains have worn
Their links into thy flesh; the sacrifice
Of thy pure maidens, and thy innocent babes,
And reverend priests, has expiated all
Thy crimes of old.  In yonder mingling lights
There is an omen of good days for thee. 
Thou shalt arise from midst the dust and sit
Again among the nations.  Thine own arm
Shall yet redeem thee.  Not in wars like thine
The world takes part.  Be it a strife of kings,—­
Despot with despot battling for a throne,—­
And Europe shall be stirred throughout her realms,
Nations shall put on harness, and shall fall
Upon each other, and in all their bounds
The wailing of the childless shall not cease. 
Thine is a war for liberty, and thou
Must fight it single-handed.  The old world
Looks coldly on the murderers of thy race,
And leaves thee to the struggle; and the new,—­
I fear me thou couldst tell a shameful tale
Of fraud and lust of gain;—­thy treasury drained,
And Missolonghi fallen.  Yet thy wrongs
Shall put new strength into thy heart and hand,
And God and thy good sword shall yet work out,
For thee, a terrible deliverance.

A SUMMER RAMBLE.

The quiet August noon has come,
  A slumberous silence fills the sky,
The fields are still, the woods are dumb,
  In glassy sleep the waters lie.

And mark yon soft white clouds that rest
  Above our vale, a moveless throng;
The cattle on the mountain’s breast
  Enjoy the grateful shadow long.

Oh, how unlike those merry hours
  In early June when Earth laughs out,
When the fresh winds make love to flowers,
  And woodlands sing and waters shout.

When in the grass sweet voices talk,
  And strains of tiny music swell
From every moss-cup of the rock,
  From every nameless blossom’s bell.

But now a joy too deep for sound,
  A peace no other season knows,
Hushes the heavens and wraps the ground,
  The blessing of supreme repose.

Away!  I will not be, to-day,
  The only slave of toil and care. 
Away from desk and dust! away! 
  I’ll be as idle as the air.

Beneath the open sky abroad,
  Among the plants and breathing things,
The sinless, peaceful works of God,
  I’ll share the calm the season brings.

Come, thou, in whose soft eyes I see
  The gentle meanings of thy heart,
One day amid the woods with me,
  From men and all their cares apart.