SELECT POETRY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 119, 9 June 1871, Page 7

SELECT POETRY.

HERVE RIEL. Herve Kiel is a common man in the French fleet which was flying to St. Malo, pursued by the English, after the victory at the Hogue. The channel is difficult, and the ordinary pilots declared it impossible to take the large .French men-of-war into safety, when Herve Riel spoke out, offered himself as pilot, and accomplished the feat. After his triumph, he gets his reward. Our readers will see from the beginning and end of the poem that the story is admirably told : i. On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hnndred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French, —woe to France ! And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue, Like a crowd, of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue, Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Ranee, With the English fleet in view. ii. 'Twas the squadron that escaped with the victor in full chase ; First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship Damfreville ; Close on him fled, great and small, Twenty-good ships in all; And they signalled to the place "Help the winners of a race ! " Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick—or, quicker still, " Here's the English can and will!" ill. Then said Damfreville, "My friend, I must speak out at the end, Though I find the speaking hard ; Praise is deeper than the lips : You have saved the King his ships. You must name your own reward. Faith, our sun was near eclipse ! Demand whate'er you will, France remains your debtor still. Ask to heart's content and have ! or mv name's not Damfreville." rv. Then a beam of fun outbroke On the bearded mouth that spoke, As the honest heart laughed through Those frank eyes of Breton blue : " iSince I needs must say my say, Since on board the duty's done, And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point; it is but a run ? Since 'tis ask and have, I may— Since the -others go ashore— Come ? A good whole holiday ! Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the belle Aurore!" That he asked and that he got—nothing more. v. Name and deed alike are lost; Not a pillar nor a post In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell; Not a head in white and black On a single fishing smack, In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack All that France saved from the fight wheuce England bore the bell. Go to-Paris ; rank on rank Seach the heroes flung pell-mell On the Louvre, face and flank ; You shall look long enough ere you come to Herve Kiel. So, for better and for worse, Herve Kiel accept my verse ! In my verse, Herve Kiel, do thou once more Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife, the Belle Aurore ! THE MILL-WHEEL. Deep in a distant valley A mill wheel whirreth low, My loved one, she has vanished, Who lived there long ago. She gave a farewell token, A ring, to prove her true— Her plighted troth is broken— The rmg—it sprang in two. I'd be a minstrel singing, And wander the wide world o'er— New notes of music ringing Chaunting from door to door. A knight with war plume streaming I'd rush in the fiery fight, Or rest by camp fires gleaming, On the field in the dusky night. I hear the mill wtieel whirring, I know not what I will— I'd seek the grave all silent, And there at last be still. THE ROYAL UNION BETWEEN ENGLAND and SCOTLAND. (AN acrostic.) L ong life, say all, unto the happy pair ! L ong may they liveeachother'slovetoshare. 0 f ev'ry happiness the world can know: 0 f bliss-united be their lot below. Under the blessing of the King of Kings, R eceivinglight which gooAnuss ever brings. 1 n clear perception may they day by day N ear to the Throne which passeth not a way. So shall they find, when life is fading fast, Enduring summer to the very lastEl ntering their Home when Earth from them has past !