LIII. THE HOUR OF PRAYER.

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (b. 1794, d. 1835) was born in

Liverpool, England. Her maiden name was Browne. Her

childhood was spent in Wales. Her first volume of poems was

published in 1808; her second in 1812. In 1812 she was married to

Captain Hemans, but he left her about six years after their

marriage, and they never again lived together. She went, with her

five sons, to reside with her mother, then living near St. Asaph, in

North Wales. Mrs. Hemans then resumed her literary pursuits, and

wrote much and well. Her poetry is smooth and graceful, and she

excels in description. Many of her poems are exceedingly

beautiful.

1. Child, amid the flowers at play,

While the red light fades away;

Mother, with thine earnest eye,

Ever following silently;

Father, by the breeze at eve

Called thy harvest work to leave;

Pray! Ere yet the dark hours be,

Lift the heart, and bend the knee.

2. Traveler, in the stranger's land,

Far from thine own household band;

Mourner, haunted by the tone

Of a voice from this world gone;

Captive, in whose narrow cell

Sunshine hath not leave to dwell;

Sailor, on the darkening sea;

Lift the heart and bend the knee.

3. Warrior, that from battle won,

Breathest now at set of sun;

Woman, o'er the lowly slain

Weeping on his burial plain;

Ye that triumph, ye that sigh,

Kindred by one holy tie,

Heaven's first star alike ye see;

Lift the heart, and bend the knee.