Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/438

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THE PLEDGE.
Then, then, is the time of proud emotion,—
And if in the bosom a proud one sleep,
'Twill awake to dance to the music of ocean,
And sweep, with the winds, o'er the weltering deep.

With my bark through her own blue path careering,
I never can envy the landsman's bliss;
No sun on the shore ever shone so cheering
As it sparkles down on a world like this!
What music can make the heart so sprightly
As the roll of the billows in the breeze?
What ball upon earth ever shone so brightly
As the stirring dance of the sun-lit seas?

The Pledge.
A Song.
i.
Come pledge me! see the sparkling glass
With ruby foam-bells shine!
They bid us snatch them ere they pass:
Come pledge me in the wine!

ii.
When I behold thy smiling lips
To that bright draught incline,
Methinks young love his pinions dips
With them to meet the wine.

iii.
The kind good wish those lips express,
Warm from the heart benign,
It hath a tenfold power to bless,
Breathed o'er the mantling wine.

iv.
And hark! with sweet and silvery clink,
Thy glass rings clear on mine!
Of hearts accordant thus we think,
While pledging in the wine.