18 APRIL 1885, Page 15

POETRY.

AMOR IN EXCELSIS.

HAD I a heart more like thine own, As warm, and kind, and free,•

As firm and fond, thou should'st have known

That heart but beat for thee !

But since so pure and fair thou art, Thou never canst be mine,— I would not have thee take a heart So all unlike from thine !

Thy perfect heart my heart shall teach To love thee best of all; Dear, from thy heaven I cannot reach, I would not have thee fall !

And what though fate the gift denies Thy heart would not refuse P Not his the praise who wins the prize, But his who dies to lose !

PAKENIIAR BEATTY.