Ossian Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

WILD ANIMALS. 255
On Him do tliey wait when the morning ariseth —
When dim night descends He their fierce hunger stills.
It is He who breathed fortli, and their life was in being —
Who hideth His face and they go as He wills;
Wliose purpose upholds them — whose eyelids, all-seeing,
Search through their green pastures, and thousand lone hills.
"WE DO ALL FADE AS A LEAF.
'TwAS when summer's sun was glowing
In its liotest, highest noon.
And the sultry hours kept flowing
Slowly o'er the woods of June,
That, beneath an ancient ruler
Of the forest gxeen and gay.
Where the air was soft and cooler
Than within the glare of day.
Dreamily I lay, scarce glancing,
With a dim and half-shut eye.
Where the mp-iad leaves were dancing
On the branches broad and high.
Dreamily, a soft emotion —
Vague and vacant, undefined —
Shutting every sense and notion
Of disquiet from the mind.
I lay lapt in this sweet dreaming,
^Vllere the tree's deep shadow fell,
Till the rustling leaves were streaming
In the evening's breezy swell. .