Hubert And Ida; A Legend Of S. Swithin's Eve.

Oh I the terrible despairing , Oh ! the anxious bitter cry Of the mother who aboA'e them Standing breathless , sees them die . Sees the Avaters lapping round them , Narrowing ever where they stand ,

Till a last sad vestige only Now remains of shifting sand . And the lover ' s mute appealing To the God who reigns above , Seems but mocked by swelling waters , As they bear him from his love .

So in death e ' en they ' re divided , For a cruel hungry Avave Carries her away , and sunders That brief union in the grave . A love of years , a love of childhood ,

Which had only grown Avith time , Now to close , oh , bitter ending , Just Avhen both are in their prime . Still he would have borne it bravely , Called that painful past but sweet , If the false sea had not robbed

him—E ' en in death , of her so meet . Parted by the glittering Avavelets , flashing idly on the shore , Just a little distance only , But to meet , oh I nevermore .

From tbe grave be could not save her , Though he now himself might save , For a huge Avave bears Mm safely To the shore , to find a grave . Just across the streak of glory , Comes a shadoAv and a cloud

, Winds are rising UOAV ancl sobbing , As of death ancl of a shroud . Dimly sees be coming towards him , Washing nearer with each wave , What Avas only now the maiden Whom he loved , but could not save .

Clambering up , on a rock above him , Looking down on that sweet face , Borne so close beneath him , peaceful , Full till now of light and grace . Can he live now she is taken From bis side in fear and pain ?

Can he look on her clear mother 1 Ne ' er on this earth , ne ' er again I She , the stately noble lady , Standing a-vestruck , shrieks for aid ;

But , alas ! no echo answers ; All her fond hopes sadly fade . Grief and fear o ' ercome the mother , Standing ' neath that placid moon ; Calling vainly for assistance , Sinking down iu helpless swoon .

But the lover hears the last cry , Dimly distant though it seems , Just as one hears sounds and voices In the visions that are dreams . Dimly sounds the shrill beseeching —»

Wail that comes adown tbe breeze ; Like tbe cry of some strange night-bird , Hid midst grand old forest trees . Something told him that a mother ' s Sad , sad cry , gone up on high , Had repeated the old

story—Earthly love is born to die . That this Avorld is not for ever ; That here pleasure leads to pain ; And the happiness of summer Soon brings winter in its train . And with one Avild sob of madness , Holding life Avithout her cheap , Looking down upon the Avaters , Hubert took the fatal leap .

Down to Avhere fair Ida , lying In a little fairy cove ; Where the straggling moonbeams Avandered , And the wave plashed soft above . -s ¦* * * * * * And the fishers tell the story , HOAV one , passing on the cliff , Saw the tragedy enacted ; SaAV the corpses stark ancl stiff .

When tbe tide had slowly fallen , Leaving these two on the shore , He descended with another , Ancl Avitb help the lovers bore Up the craggy path and homeward , To the castle of the Lord ,

Where the sad tale tbey related , Of the daughter he adored . Side by side tbe lovers lie now In tbe great ancestral tomb , 'Neath tbe stately fane where slumber , All the dead in endless gloom . Countess Eva now amongst them , Never did she come again ,