Eloise Alberta Bibb

Leona, dear, twelve months ago,
Your pensive soul I scarce did know;
A summer's touch we did require
To wake the strings of love's soft lyre.
...

The night hung o'er Virginia's forest wild,
Stately with beauty unsurpassed before
Shone the full moon serenely; and the wind
...

See! the moon is smiling
Down her brightest beams,
...

The morn hath risen clear and bright,
The sun displays his glorious light;
Through heaven's vault of azure dye,
...

I

The hermit sat within his cave,
A prey to anxious care;
...

I

Virgin of the vestal flame,
Numa's child so chaste and fair,
...

I

'Toil! toil! toil!'
What curse is this sent from the hand of God,
...

I peer adown a shining group,
Where sages grace the throng,
...

I

The day is o'er and twilight's shade,
Is darkening forest, glen and glade;
...

I.

We had been school-mates, - she and I, -
How sad, those years have all rolled by.
...

O Death! why dost thou steal the great,
With grudging like to strongest hate,
And rob the world of giant minds,
...

'Alas! that such a soul should taste of death,'
Such lofty genius fade for want of breath,
Such wit find refuge 'mong the mournful dead, -
...

I

O, that the years had language! time would tell,
Of one bright night the moon has loved so well,
...

Some bright thoughts visit me to-night,
Of a lady fair to see,
Who hides a faithful heart from sight,
In a form of symmetry.
...

Know ye the man whom God has blessed,
With gifts peculiar to the rest
...

How many scenes, O sun,
Hast thou not shone upon!
How many tears, O light,
Have dropped before thy sight!
...

O thou who never harbored fear,
Who ever scorned her visage drear,
...

So tired! so weary -
The race - has been long,
And the paths have been rugged,
The winds have been strong, -
...

Oh, for a drink, to-night,
Mixed by some god of might,
A draught of strange device,
Though of exorbitant price,
...

Then, fare you well, fare you well,
Life for us has just begun;
Don't regret, ne'er forget
This dear class of ninety one.
...