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From forests brown with winter, from valleys clad in snow,
We sailed for the Bahamas, where the lime and orange grow,
Four days the ocean tempests, around our good ship rave,
The fifth we saw the palm trees in summer breezes wave.
With fainting hearts, yet thankful, we leave the stormy main,
Glad on the fair earth's bosom to plant our feet again.
O fair and lovely Island, with skies of tenderest hue,
Girt round with sparkling waters of amethyst and blue;
No frost winds blight your blossoms, no winter snows come here,
But one eternal summer encircles all the year.
Amid this bloom and verdure—airs like our August wind,
I cannot feel 'tis winter, at the home I left behind;
That there through leafless woodlands—o'er meadows bleak and brown,
The cold north winds are sweeping, and snows are sifting down;
Would then I leave forever my Northern home for this?
To seek on this green Island a home of purer bliss?
Oh no! ah no! far better that sterner clime of ours,
Which stirs the soul to action and quickens all its powers.
The stronger life for labor and swifter flow of blood,
Which bear this great world onward, toward the perfect good.
These bright and peaceful waters, in ruder, darker times,
Have witnessed deeds of daring, and scenes of bloody crimes.
O never be this beauty by bloodshed marred again,
But peace with all earth's nations forevermore remain.
And as the generations of men shall rise and fall,
Through all the passing ages, may love rule over all.
Here may the weak and sinking, with hopeful courage come,
And here the faint and weary still find a welcome home.
I know the lime and orange, blossom and ripen here;
I know that endless summer attends the smiling year;
But scenes of brighter splendor have met my raptured eye,
Where round my own loved dwelling, the green savannas lie;
There are my dear, my loved ones, far o'er the dark blue sea,
And thou my glorious country, my heart is still with thee.

ADDENDUM.

[_]

Written at Havana, while on my return from Mexico, March 24, 1872, on receiving news of the death of my grandson, John Howard Bryant:

A sudden wail of sorrow across the deep has come,
The brightest gem has faded that lit my distant home.
One beautiful and lovely, to whom my name was given,
With cheeks like summer roses, and eyes as blue as heaven;
And I am grieved to weeping, that one I thought to press,
Soon to this throbbing bosom, with many a sweet caress,
Is laid away in darkness beneath the wasting snow,
No more my smile to answer, no more my love to know.
No more his gentle footfall shall patter on the floor,
No more his call at morning, be heard beside my door.
His vacant chair at table, the bed wherein he lay
And breathed in helpless anguish his little life away,
His garments and the playthings with which he used to play;
All these are sad reminders of one that's gone for aye.
How large the place made vacant, and how severe the blow,
That smote our hearts with anguish, none but ourselves can know.
O God, our Heavenly Father, Thy love is full and free,
Show us Thy loving kindness, our trust is still in Thee.