My Thoughts To-Night.

I sit by the fire musing,         With sad and downcast eye,     And my laden breast gives utt'rance         To many a weary sigh;     Hushed is each worldly feeling,         Dimmed is each day-dream bright -     O heavy heart, can'st tell me         Why I'm so sad to-night?     'Tis not that I mourn the freshness         Of youth fore'er gone by -     Its life with pulse high springing,         Its cloudless, radiant eye -     Finding bliss in every sunbeam,         Delight in every part,     Well springs of purest pleasure         In its high ardent heart.     Nor yet is it for those dear ones         Who've passed from earth away     That I grieve - in spirit kneeling         Above their beds of clay;     O, no! while my glance upraising         To yon calm shining sky,     My pale lips, quivering, murmur,         "They are happier than I!"     But, alas! my spirit mourns         As, weary, it looks back -     Finding naught of good or holy         On life's past barren track -     I mourn for the countless errors         That on mem'ry's page crowd on,     And sorrow for lost chances         Of good I might have done.     But, courage! I must arouse me,         The day is not yet o'er,     And I still may make atonement         Ere leaving life's last shore:     One act of meek oblation,         A tear of penance bright,     Will be counted as rare treasures         In heaven's loving sight.