FOR CHILDREN. 253

—© We come from the shores of the green old Nile,
From the land where the roses of Sharon smile,
From the palms that wave through the Indian sky,
From the myrrh-trees of glowing Araby,

“We have swept o’er cities in song renowned,

Silent they lie with their desert round !

We have crossed proud rivers whose tide hath
rolled

All dark with the warrior-blood of old ;

And each worn wing hath regained its home

Under peasant’s roof of monarch’s dome.”

And what have ye found in the monarch’s dome,

Since last ye traversed the blue sea’s foam ?

— “We have found a change ;—we have found a
all,

And a gloom o’ershadowing the banquet hall ;

And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt ;—

Nought looks the same save the nest we built.”

Oh! joyous birds, it hath ever been so;
Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go,
But the huts of hamlets lie still and deep,

And the hills o’er their quiet a vigil keep :—
Say, what have ye found in the peasant’s cot
Since last ye parted from that sweet spot ?

“A change we have fourd there, and many a

ef»
Faces and footsteps, and all things strange ;
Gone are the heads of the silvery hair,
And the young that were, have a brow of care;
And the place is hushed where the children played
Nought leoks the same save the nest we made.”
Zz