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diff --git a/26611-h/26611-h.htm b/26611-h/26611-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17c41be --- /dev/null +++ b/26611-h/26611-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4571 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Enthusiasm and Other Poems, by Susanna Moodie. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: 1em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .author {text-align: right; margin-right: 10%} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1.5em 4em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-top: .4em; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Enthusiasm and Other Poems, by Susanna Moodie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Enthusiasm and Other Poems + +Author: Susanna Moodie + +Release Date: September 14, 2008 [EBook #26611] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENTHUSIASM AND OTHER POEMS *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig, Diane Monico, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Canadian Institute for +Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h1>ENTHUSIASM;</h1> +<h4>AND</h4> +<h2>OTHER POEMS,<br /><br /></h2> + + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h2>SUSANNA STRICKLAND,</h2> +<h4>(NOW MRS. MOODIE.)<br /><br /><br /></h4> + + +<h5>LONDON:<br /> +SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. 65, CORNHILL.<br /> +MDCCCXXXI.</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>POEMS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toc"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Enthusiasm</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fame</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Deluge</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Avenger of Blood</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Overthrow of Zebah and Zalmunna</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Paraphrase, (Psalm XLIV.)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Paraphrase, (Isaiah XL.)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Vision of Dry Bones</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Destruction of Babylon</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To the Memory of Mrs. Ewing</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To the Memory of R. R. Jun.</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An Appeal to the Free</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>War</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Earthquake</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lines, written amidst the ruins of a church on the coast of Suffolk</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Old Ash Tree</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Nameless Grave</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Pause</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Uncertainty</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Warning</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lines on a new-born Infant</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Christian Mother's Lament</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Child's first Grief</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Lament of the Disappointed</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hymn of the Convalescent</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Youth and Age</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mary Hume</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Spirit of Motion</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lines written during a gale of wind</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Spirit of the Spring</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>O come to the Meadows</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thou wilt think of me, Love</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Forest Rill</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To Water Lilies</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Autumn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Reapers' Song</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Winter</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fancy and the Poet</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Night's Phantasies</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Songs of the Hours</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Luminous Bow</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Sugar Bird</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Dream</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Ruin</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Winter calling up his Legions</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>There's Joy</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Love</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Morning Hymn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Evening Hymn</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TO_JAMES_MONTGOMERY_ESQ" id="TO_JAMES_MONTGOMERY_ESQ"></a>TO JAMES MONTGOMERY, ESQ.</h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>With sincere admiration of his genius as a poet, his virtues as a +Christian, and his character as a man, this Volume is most respectfully +inscribed, by his obliged servant,</p></div> + +<p class="author">THE AUTHOR.<br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Reydon, Suffolk,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Jan. 1st. 1831.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ENTHUSIASM" id="ENTHUSIASM"></a>ENTHUSIASM.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh for the spirit which inspired of old<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The seer's prophetic song—the voice that spake<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through Israel's warrior king. The strains that burst<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In thrilling tones from Zion's heaven-strung harp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Float down the tide of ages, shedding light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On pagan shores and nations far remote:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternal as the God they celebrate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their fame shall last when Time's long race is run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you refulgent eye of this fair world,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its light and centre,—into darkness shrinks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eclipsed for ever by the glance of Him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose rising sheds abroad eternal day.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Almighty, uncreated Source of life!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Thee I dedicate my soul and song;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In humble adoration bending low<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before thy footstool. Thou alone canst stamp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lasting glory on the works of man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tuning the shepherd's reed, or monarch's harp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To sounds harmonious. Immortality<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exists alone in Thee. The proudest strain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ever fired the poet's soul, or drew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Melodious breathings from his gifted lyre,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unsanctioned by thy smile, shall die away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the faint sound which the soft summer breeze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wins from the stately lily's silver bells;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A passing murmur, a half-whispered sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard for a moment in the deep repose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Nature's midnight rest—then hushed for ever!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Parent of genius, bright Enthusiasm!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bold nurse of high resolve and generous thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis to thy soul-awakening power we owe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The preacher's eloquence, the painter's skill,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The poet's lay, the patriot's noble zeal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The warrior's courage, and the sage's lore.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! till the soul is quickened by thy breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wit, wisdom, eloquence, and beauty, fail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To make a just impression on the heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tide of life creeps lazily along,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soiled with the stains of earth, and man debased<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sinks far below the level of the stream.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! that thy bright flame should be confined<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To passion's maddening vortex; and the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waste all its glorious energies on earth!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world allows its votaries to feel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A glowing ardour, an intense delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On every subject but the one that lifts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soul above its sensual, vain pursuits,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And elevates the mind and thoughts to God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeal in a sacred cause alone is deemed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An aberration of our mental powers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sons of pleasure cannot bear that light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of heavenly birth which penetrates the souls<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Of men, who, deeply conscious of their guilt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mourn o'er their lost, degraded state, and seek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through faith in Christ's atonement, to regain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glorious liberty of sons of God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, as redeemed, account it their chief joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To praise and celebrate the wondrous love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That called them out of darkness into light,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Severed the chain which bound them to the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unclosed the silent portals of the grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gave Hope wings to soar again to heaven!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh, thou bright spirit, of whose power I sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Electric, deathless energy of mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harp of the soul, by genius swept, awake!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Inspire my strains, and aid me to portray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The base and joyless vanities which man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Madly prefers to everlasting bliss!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come! let us mount gay Fancy's rapid car,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And trace through forest and o'er mountain rude<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bounding footsteps of the youthful bard,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Yet new to life—a stranger to the woes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His harp is doomed to mourn in plaintive tones.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His ardent unsophisticated mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On all things beautiful, delighted, dwells.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth is to him a paradise. No cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floats o'er the golden promise of the morn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hope daily weaves fresh roses for his brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shrouding the grim and ghastly phantom, Death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath her soft and rainbow-tinted wings.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere Care has tainted with her poisonous breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's opening buds, all objects wear to him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lovely aspect, and he peoples space<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With creatures of his own. The glorious forms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which haunt his solitude, and brightly fill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imagination's airy hall, atone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all the faults and follies of his kind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor marvel that he cannot comprehend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The speculative aims of worldly men:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dearer to him a leaf, or bursting bud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Culled fresh from Nature's treasury, than all<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The golden dreams that cheat the care-worn crowd.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His world is all within. He mingles not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In their society; he cannot drudge<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To win the wealth they toil to realize.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A different spirit animates his breast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their eager calculations, hopes, and fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still flit before him, like dim shadows thrown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By April's passing clouds upon the stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A moment mirrored in its azure depths,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the next sunbeam turns them into light!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Rashly confiding, still to be deceived,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our youthful poet overleaps the bounds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of probability. He walks this earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like an enfranchised spirit; and the storms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That darken and convulse a guilty world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come like faint peals of thunder on his ear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or hoarser murmurs of the mighty deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which heard in some dark forest's leafy shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But add a solemn grandeur to the scene.—<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The genial tide of thought still swiftly flows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoicing onward, ere the icy breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of sorrow falls upon the sunny fount,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And chains the music of its dancing waves.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is the end of all his lovely dreams—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bright fulfilment of his earthly hopes?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Too often penury and dire disease,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Neglect, a broken heart, an early grave!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, had he tuned his harp to truths divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With saints and martyrs sought a heavenly crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How had his theme immortalized his song!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Behold the man, who to the poet's fire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unites the painter's fascinating art;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His touch embodies all that fancy brings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To charm the mental vision, and he dives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the rich and shadowy world of thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soars up to heaven, or plunges down to hell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In search of forms to mortal eyes unknown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To animate the canvass. His bold eye<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Confronts the king of terrors. Through the gates<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of that dark prison-house of woe and dread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hails the infernal monarch on his throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crowned with ambition's diadem of fire.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unsatisfied with all that Nature gives<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To charm the wandering heart and roving eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He would portray Omnipotence.—Rash man!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Reason revolting shudders at the act.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God is a Spirit without form or parts;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And canst thou, from a human model, trace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The awful grandeur of Creation's King?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature supplies thee with no perfect draught<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of human beauty in its sinless state.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Man bears upon his brow the curse of guilt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shadow of mortality, that marks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">E'en in the sunny season of his youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The melancholy sentence of decay.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is it from such the painter would depict<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The vision of Jehovah?—and from eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dimmed with the tears of passion, woe, and pain,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Seek to portray the dread all-seeing eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which at a momentary glance can read<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The inmost secrets of all hearts, and pierce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark and fathomless abyss of night?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, drop the pencil!—Angels cannot gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Him who sits upon the jasper throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Robed in the splendour of immortal light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But cast their crowns before him whilst they veil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brow in rapt devotion and adore!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Nature will furnish subjects far beyond<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grasp of human genius. Didst thou e'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On mossy bank or grassy plot reclined,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Watch the effect of sunlight on the boughs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of some tall graceful ash, or maple tree?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each leaf illumin'd by the noon-tide beam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Transparent shines.—Anon a heavy cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floats for a moment o'er the car of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gloom descends upon the forest bowers;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A ray steals forth—and on the topmost twig<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Falls, like a silver star. From leaf to leaf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glory spreads, shoots down the rugged trunk<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gilds each spray, till the whole tree stands forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arrayed in light.—This is beyond thy art.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All thy enthusiasm, all thy boasted skill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But poorly imitates a forest tree.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">But let us leave the painter. Let us turn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To those, who never swept the sounding lyre<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or grasped the pencil,—ardent minds that hold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A deep communion with the winds and waves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The youthful worshippers at Nature's shrine:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What says the soft voice of the plaintive breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mournfully sweeping through the forest boughs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In airy play moved gently by its breath?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To such it hath a language, and it wins<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A tender echo from the youthful heart.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">With throbbing bosom Nature's student treads<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sylvan haunts, exultingly leaps forth<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +<span class="i0">To hail the coming of the genial spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shedding around from her green lap the buds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In winter's rugged casket long enshrined,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To form the chaplet of the infant year.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Young pensive moralist!—'tis sweet to muse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On beauties which escape the vulgar eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To talk with Nature 'mid her woodland paths,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hear an answering voice in every breeze.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You court her beauties with a lover's zeal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You hear her voice, nor understand the sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which speaks to you—to all. The volume spread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before your dazzled eyes, so rich with life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is a closed book—a fair illumined scroll,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Traced in strange characters, unknown to you.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would you unfold the mystery, and read<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The record the eternal hand of God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has, of himself, on Nature's tablets graved?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You must explore another wondrous book,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of deeper interest far—the book of life—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glorious volume of unsullied truth!—<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Time's rapid and undeviating march<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tramples down empires, blots out names that once<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bid fair for perpetuity of fame.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Truth is alone eternal as the God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who on this everlasting basis placed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His own immutable and moveless throne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Time to these writings daily adds new force,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deepening the traces of Jehovah's love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His fathomless, unbounded love to man.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Peruse this volume, and then walk abroad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And meditate in silence on the scenes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which lately charmed your unassisted sense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till your soul burns within you, and breaks forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In holy hymns of gratitude and praise.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Faith gives a grandeur to created things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond the poet's lay or painter's art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or upward flight of Fancy's eagle wing;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth is the vista through which heaven is seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By him who, journeying through life's narrow vale,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Seeks in the objects which around him rise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hold communion with his God! to trace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wisdom, goodness, majesty, and love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That clothed the lilies of the field, and twined<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The simple diadem of buds and leaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So rich in their diversity of shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round Nature's brow,—and o'er the rugged hills<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast the light floating veil of purple haze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which harmonizes to its own soft hue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The broken precipice and barren heath.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here admiration may have ample scope:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spirit soaring upward drinks in light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From other worlds, and in the choral song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of happy birds among the forest bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hears the seraphic and harmonious strains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That angels chant around the eternal throne!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To him there is an anthem in the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A burst of triumph in the thunder's peal,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, slowly rolling through the troubled air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strikes man with terror, and yet praises God!—<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O'er Fancy's glass another shadow flits,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which shows a bolder aspect than the gay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impassioned votaries of Nature wear.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mark his majestic port, his eagle eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stern erection of his haughty brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Partially shaded by the snowy plumes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lightly wave and wanton in the breeze.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is this a pensioner of hope?—Is this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dreamer of wild dreams?—All eyes are turned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gaze upon him, as with measured step<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The weaponed warrior slowly passes by.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, this is one of War's tremendous sons,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory's intrepid champion: his stout heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaps, as the war-horse, to the trumpet's sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hails the storm of battle from afar.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He loves the press, the tumult, and the strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where horror holds the gory steeds of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slaughter hews a passage for the brave!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He too is an enthusiast!—his zeal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impels him onward with resistless force,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Severs his heart from nature's kindred ties,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And feeds the wild ambition which consumes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that is good and lovely in his path.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He flashes, like a meteor, on the sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seen 'mid the angry thunder-clouds of war,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeking a living name in fields where Death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Holds his imperial banquet, and the blood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of thousands flows to furnish forth the feast.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">There was a time when softer feelings held<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their mild dominion o'er that haughty breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When at his mother's feet, a rosy boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He wove bright garlands for his artless brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sought, with playful dalliance, to detain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The busy hand that could not pause to bind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His cumbrous wreath, or answer the caress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of him who climbed her knees to steal the kiss.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But even at those tender years, his braid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of April blossoms was his crown; the twig<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of golden willow, with white daisies bound,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +<span class="i0">His jewelled sceptre; and the mossy bank,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where he reclined in floral state, his throne;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lambs that sported in the yellow meads<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His lawful subjects; while his azure eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looked up to heaven with all a child's delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thought that earth was only made for him.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How often has he wept for that fair moon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That shed her trembling glory o'er his path;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wearied his slender limbs to reach the spot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On which the rainbow based its splendid arch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And felt his heart with disappointment beat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the fair pageant faded from his view.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ah, simple boy!—well had it been for thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had thy ambitious longings been confined<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To objects wisely placed beyond thy grasp.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But years stole on—thy ardent spirit broke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its childish trammels, and with eager joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Explored the warlike annals of the past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And called up spirits of the mighty dead,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +<span class="i0">To set their hostile armies in array,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fight for thee their sanguine battles o'er.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, while such visions burst upon thy sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst shouts of victory and dying groans<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rang on thine ear—time backward rolled his tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rome in her ancient splendour proudly rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And murdered Cæsar lived again in thee!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Young fiery soldier!—let us track thy steps<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through danger's stormy paths, to win the goal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all thy lofty and ambitious hopes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wedded to glory, thy brave heart springs forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To win thy bride from valour's armed hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pluck the laurel from the brow of death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A novice in the camp and new to arms,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bugle lulls thee to repose, the trumpet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrills on thy sleeping ear, and bids thee dream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of deathless fields in fancy fought and won.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At length the day of trial comes—the day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which puts thy boasted courage to the proof—<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Thy first in battle, and perchance thy last.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The camp is broken up, the air is rent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With strains of martial music, the loud neigh<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of prancing steeds, impatient for the strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With clang of arms, and oft-repeated shouts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of warriors, who impatiently leap forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With reckless hardihood to meet their doom.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">With beating heart, firm step, and flashing eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The young recruit of glory proudly grasps<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The standard he must only yield with life.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The march commences—deep excitement grows<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To fiery expectation—he forgets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amidst the hurried interest of the scene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crown he fights for only can be won<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through seas of slaughter and the waste of life.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! how few devoted hearts like his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Survive their first engagement with the foe.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death strikes the hero to the dust. He falls<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In honour's mantle, the triumphant cry<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Of victory on his pallid lip expires!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But what are conquests of the bow and spear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Alexander's victories, compared<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the stern warfare which the soul maintains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the subtle tempter of mankind—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The base corruptions of a sinful world—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An evil conscience and a callous heart?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, vanquish these!—and through the gates of death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Triumphant pass and win a heavenly crown!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh, that my soul could find a voice to speak;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That human language could express the thoughts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which fill the secret chambers of the brain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain the lips pour forth harmonious sounds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain the eager eye is raised to heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swimming in tears, and bright with ecstasy,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The senses still are debtors to the heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, trembling, throbs for utterance in vain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does the salvation of a deathless soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kindle no hope in the possessor's breast?<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Awaken no desire to be restored<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To that most pure and perfect state of bliss<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Man by transgression lost?—the noble thought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of claiming kindred with the skies, give birth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To no anticipations of delight—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Joys such as angels share, and saints, who dwell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within the circle of Jehovah's throne?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A light is breaking on my mental eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Visions of glory in succession rise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fill the airy palace of the soul.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see afar the promised land. An arch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of golden radiance canopies the gates<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of that celestial city—Beautiful!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unbuilt by hands—the New Jerusalem—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And holy to the Lord; the happy home<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of pilgrims, who to reach that heavenly shrine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sojourned as strangers on this goodly earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counting all things but loss—yea, life itself—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To win an entrance through those gates of pearl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dwell within the temple of their God!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! earth's dusky shadow lies between<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My ardent spirit and that blissful shore:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eye hath not seen, nor mortal ear hath heard,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How then can mortal pen portray, the joys<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prepared for those who live and die in Christ!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Before me flows the rapid stream of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dark, fathomless, encumbered with the wrecks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of twice three thousand years. They too shall sink<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath those turbid waters, swallowed up<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the vast ocean of eternity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaving few fragments on the boundless waste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tell to coming years that such have been.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How shall the naked spirit cross the flood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And land in safety on the happy shore?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis not an earthly pilot that can steer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So frail a bark through such a stormy tide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cannot the eye of faith look up and see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The clouds of sorrow part—the day-star rise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above life's trackless ocean, shedding light<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the darkened nations? From its beams<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mist of error flies, the angry waves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of passion, which so long have vexed the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are hushed to rest; controlled by Him who rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From tranquil sleep, and to the roaring waste<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of midnight waters, mustering all their wrath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Said, "Peace, be still." The howling winds obeyed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And silence sank upon the storm-tossed main!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh look to Him! and to his glorious word.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His universal sovereignty demands<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That deep devotion of the heart which men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Miscall enthusiasm!—Zeal alone deserves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The name of madness in a worldly cause.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Light misdirected ever leads astray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But hope inspired by faith will guide to heaven!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To win the laurel wreath the soldier fights;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To free his native land the patriot bleeds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to secure his crown the martyr dies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For beauteous Rachel Isaac's son endured<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Seven years of bitter servitude, and deemed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The weary months but moments to obtain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From crafty Laban's hand his promised bride.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To prove his friendship for the man he loved,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The generous Jonathan forgot his claims<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To royalty, intent to save the life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of him whom God had called to fill his throne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wilt thou feel less zealous to regain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The love and favour of thy heavenly King,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shrink because the path to glory lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up the steep hill of duty? He who saved,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amidst the tempest on Gennesaret,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Peter, when sinking in the waves, will aid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy feeble steps, and guide thee to the rock<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of everlasting strength!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Spirit divine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose name I erst invoked, whose influence fills<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The narrow confines of this human breast,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If I have dared to sing of truths sublime,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, shed a glory round my rugged lyre—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hallow the feeble strains that would reveal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dazzling light, which streaming from thy wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gilds all the dark and troubled tide of thought.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lifted by thee above the gulf of time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My eye explores the regions of the blessed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hopes long chained to earth are raised to heaven.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never, while reason holds her steady rein,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To curb imagination's fiery steeds,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May I to joyless apathy resign<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The high and holy thoughts inspired by thee!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FAME" id="FAME"></a>FAME.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh ye! who all life's energies combine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fadeless laurel round your brows to twine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pause but one moment in your brief career,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor seek for glory in a mortal sphere.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can figures traced upon the shifting sand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Washed by the mighty tide, its force withstand?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Time's stern resistless torrent onward flows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The restless waves above your labours close,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And He who bids the bounding billows roll<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweeps out the feeble record from the soul.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The glorious hues that flush the evening sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Melt into night, and on her bosom die;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Through the wide fields of heaven's immensity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gold-tipped billows of that crimson sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flash on the awe-struck gazer's dazzled sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rich out-gushings from the fount of light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet oft, concealed beneath that splendid form,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We hail the herald of the coming storm;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fiery spirit over half a globe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spreads the bright tissue of his beamy robe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, ere the day-king veils his glowing crest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shrouds the dark tempest in his burning vest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er earth and heaven his gorgeous banner flings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gilds with borrowed light his sable wings—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those who view with rapture-lifted eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The short-lived pageant of the summer skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold it vanish like a fearful dream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And death and desolation mar its beam.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So when we seek above life's sea of tears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To raise a monument for future years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If built on earth the fabric will decay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oblivion's hand will sweep the pile away;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The proudest trophies of the mightiest mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fade in her grasp, nor leave a wreck behind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She o'er earth's ruins spreads her misty pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And time's unsparing ocean swallows all;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hope for a moment gilds the spoiler's shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As parting sunbeams tinge the lurid cloud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The transient glory cheats the gazer's sight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The storm rolls on—'tis universal night!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Say did not man inherit, at his birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A higher promise than the things of earth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Views more exalted than this world can give,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hopes that, deathless as the soul, outlive<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wreck of nature, and the common doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That hourly sweeps her myriads to the tomb?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His mental powers, unfettered by the clod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soar o'er time's gulf, and reach the throne of God.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh what a privilege it is to know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That death chains not the immortal soul below!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Through the dark portals of the grave upborne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaving the care-worn sons of earth to mourn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On wings of light the new-born spirit flies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To seek a home and kindred in the skies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh what are earthly crowns and earthly bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pride's delusive dreams, compared with this?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ambition's laurel, purchased with a flood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of human tears and stained with kindred blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Once gained, converted to a crown of thorns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pierces the aching temples it adorns—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not Sappho's lyre, nor Raphael's deathless art<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can twine the olive round the bleeding heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In heaven alone the promised blessing lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those who seek—must seek it in the skies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seek it through Him who, humbling human pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wept o'er man's fall, and for his ransom died;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poured out his blood on the accursed tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To break the chain and set the captive free.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven bowed its glory on the cross to teach<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That greatness man's lost nature could not reach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The true humility, which stoops to rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, leaving earth, claims kindred with the skies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">How many pages have been blotted o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With heartfelt tears, that now are read no more;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, like the eyes that long have ceased to weep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In dust and darkness quite forgotten sleep!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dead to the world as if they ne'er had been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The favoured actors in one little scene.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scene is changed—and, like their fleeting-fame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fickle world adores another name.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They knew the price at which its praise was bought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glittering bauble was not worth a thought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, Esau like, a better birthright sold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for base counterfeit exchanged the gold!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ere man presumptuously his genius boasts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let him reflect upon the countless hosts,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The untold myriads, of each age and clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sleep forgotten in the grave of time.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What were their names! Go ask the silent sod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their deeds—their record lives but with their God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At every step we tread on kindred earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor know the spot that gave our fathers birth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! could we call before our wondering eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that have lived—and bid the dead arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the first moment the Creator spoke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The word of power, and light through darkness broke,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see earth covered with the mighty tide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all who on her bosom lived and died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What a stupendous thought would fill the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Could we behold life's breathing ocean roll<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its human billows onward—and the mass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The grave has swallowed, down from Adam, pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In one unbroken stream—the brain would reel—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lost in immensity, would cease to feel!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst living, ah, how few were known to fame!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One in a million has not left a name,—<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +<span class="i0">A single token, on life's shifting scene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tell to other years that such has been.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet man, unaided by a hope sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thinks that his puny arm can cope with time;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That his vast genius can reverse the doom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shed a deathless light upon his tomb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That distant ages shall his worth admire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And young hearts kindle at the sacred fire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of him whose fame no envious clouds o'ercast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet died forgotten and unknown at last.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh think not genius, with its hallowed light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can break the gloom of an eternal night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For splendid talents often lead astray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The unguarded heart, and hide the narrow way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the unlearned and those of low estate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With faith's clear eye behold the living gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose portals open on the shoreless sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where time's strong ocean meets eternity.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Across the gulf that stretches far beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lies the dark valley of the shade of death—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A land of deep forgetfulness,—a shore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which all must traverse, but return no more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this sad earth, to dissipate our dread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tell the mighty secrets of the dead.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enough for us that those drear realms were trod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By heavenly footsteps, that the Son of God<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passed the dark bourne and vanquished Death, to save<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The weary wanderers of life's stormy wave.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Why then should man thus cleave to things of earth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daily experience proves their little worth—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or waste those noble qualities of mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For wise and better purposes designed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the pursuit of trifles, which confer<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No solid pleasure on their worshipper;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or in the search of causes that are known<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And guided by Omnipotence alone?<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +<span class="i0">A height his finite reason cannot reach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all his boasted learning fails to teach?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the bewildering thought overwhelms his brain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death comes to prove his speculations vain!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Is he deserving of a better doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who will not raise a hope beyond the tomb?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, quite enamoured with his fallen state,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clings to the world and leaves the rest to fate;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prefers corruption to his Maker's smile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"And shuns the light because his deeds are vile?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The man who feels the value of his soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Presses unwearied towards a higher goal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaving this earth, he seeks a brighter prize,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And claims a crown immortal in the skies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The child of pleasure may despise his aim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heap reproach upon the Christian's name,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May laugh his faith, as foolishness, to scorn:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These by the man of God are meekly borne.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +<span class="i0">His glorious hope no infidel can shake;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He suffers calmly for his Saviour's sake.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The world's poor votary seeks in vain for peace:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He cannot bid the voice of conscience cease<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its dire upbraidings; in his heartless course<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He meets at every turn the fiend Remorse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who glares upon him with her tearless eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sears his heart—but mocks its agony.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He hears that voice, amid the festive throng,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speak in the dance and murmur in the song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A death-bell, pealing in the midnight chime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose awful tones proclaim the lapse of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And e'en the winged moments as they fly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seem to proclaim—"Rash mortal, thou must die!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soon must thou tread the path thy fathers trod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stand before the judgment-seat of God!"—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He hears—but seeks in pleasure's cup to drown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dread that weighs his ardent spirit down;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Derides the warning voice in mercy sent;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejects the thought of after-punishment;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In folly's vortex wastes the spring of youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor, till death summons, owns the awful truth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Feels it too late to calm the agonies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Remorse has kindled—and despairing, dies!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">But in the breast where true religion reigns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a balm for all these mental pains;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sweet contentment, felt, but undefined,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A full and free surrender of the mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To its divine-original; a trust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which lifts to heaven the dweller of the dust.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pilgrim, glowing with a hope divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counts not the distance to the heavenly shrine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He meets with guardian spirits on the road,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who cheer his steps and ease his heavy load.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Serenely journeying to a better clime<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He does not shudder at the lapse of time;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +<span class="i0">But calmly drinks the cup of mortal woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And finds that peace the world cannot bestow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That promised joy which brightens all beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And smooths his pillow on the bed of death;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That perfect love which casteth out all fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wafts his spirit to a happier sphere!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Fame is a dream—the praise of man as brief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As morning dew upon the folded leaf;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The summer sun exhales the pearly tear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And leaves no trace of its existence there.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seek not for immortality below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fix your hopes beyond this vale of woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That when oblivion gathers round thy sod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lasting record may be found with God!—<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DELUGE" id="THE_DELUGE"></a>THE DELUGE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Visions of the years gone by<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flash upon my mental eye;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ages time no longer numbers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forms that share oblivion's slumbers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creatures of that elder world<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now in dust and darkness hurled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crushed beneath the heavy rod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a long forsaken God!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hark! what spirit moves the crowd?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the voice of waters loud,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Through the open city gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Urged by wonder, fear, or hate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Onward rolls the mighty tide—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spreads the tumult far and wide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heedless of the noontide glare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Infancy and age are there,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Joyous youth and matron staid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blooming bride and blushing maid,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Manhood with his fiery glance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">War-chief with his lifted lance,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beauty with her jewelled brow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hoary age with locks of snow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prince, and peer, and statesman grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">White-stoled priest, and dark-browed slave,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plumed helm, and crowned head,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By one mighty impulse led—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mingle in the living mass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That onward to the desert pass!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">With song and shout and impious glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What rush earth's myriads forth to see?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hark! the sultry air is rent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With their boisterous merriment!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are they to the vineyards rushing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the grape's rich blood is gushing?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or hurrying to the bridal rite<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of warrior brave and beauty bright?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah no! those heads in mockery crowned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those pennons gay with roses bound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hie not to a scene of gladness—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Theirs is mirth that ends in madness!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All recklessly they rush to hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark words of that gifted seer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who amid a guilty race<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Favour found and saving grace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rescued from the doom that hurled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To chaos back a sinful world.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Self-polluted, lost, debased,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every noble trait effaced,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +<span class="i0">To rapine, lust, and murder given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Denying God, defying heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spoilers of the shrine and hearth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold the impious sons of earth!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alas! all fatally opposed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heart of erring man is closed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against that warning, and he deems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The prophet's counsel idle dreams,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And laughs to hear the preacher rave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of bursting cloud and whelming wave!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Tremble Earth! the awful doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sweeps thy millions to the tomb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hangs darkly o'er thee,—and the train<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That gaily throng the open plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall never raise those laughing eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To welcome summer's cloudless skies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall never see the golden beam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of day light up the wood and stream,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Or the rich and ripened corn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waving in the breath of morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or their rosy children twine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chaplets of the clustering vine:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bow is bent! the shaft is sped!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who shall wail above the dead?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">What arrests their frantic course?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back recoils the startled horse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the stifling sob of fear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a knell appals the ear!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lips are quivering—cheeks are pale—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Palsied limbs all trembling fail;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eyes with bursting terror gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the sun's portentous blaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the wide horizon gleaming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a blood-red banner streaming;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While like chariots from afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Armed for elemental war,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Clouds in quick succession rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Darkness spreads o'er all the skies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a lurid twilight gloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Closes o'er earth's living tomb!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Nature's pulse has ceased to play,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Night usurps the crown of day,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every quaking heart is still,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conscious of the coming ill.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lo, the fearful pause is past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The awful tempest bursts at last!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Torrents sweeping down amain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a deluge flood the plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rocks are rent, the mountains reel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth's yawning caves their depths reveal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The forests groan,—the heavy gale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shrieks out Creation's funeral wail.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hark! that loud tremendous roar!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ocean overleaps the shore,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Pouring all his giant waves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the fated land of graves;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where his white-robed spirit glides,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death the advancing billow rides,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the mighty conqueror smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In triumph o'er the sinking isles.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hollow murmurs fill the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thunders roll and lightnings glare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shrieks of woe and fearful cries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mingled sounds of horror rise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dire confusion, frantic grief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Agony that mocks relief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a tempest heaves the crowd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While in accents fierce and loud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With pallid lips and curdled blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each trembling cries, "The flood! the flood!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_AVENGER_OF_BLOOD" id="THE_AVENGER_OF_BLOOD"></a>THE AVENGER OF BLOOD.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There were two sons of Ashur at work in the field,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And one to the other his passion revealed—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the white barley bowed to the stroke of his scythe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He burst out in accents exultingly blithe—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"I have wooed a young maid!—I have wooed and I've won,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On a lovelier face never glanced yon bright sun;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the tall stately cedar my love I'll compare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With her eyes' shaded glory, her long raven hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And her bosom as white as the snow when it gleams<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Lebanon's heights, ere washed down by the streams.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +<span class="i0">She has ravished and filled my rapt soul with delight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She's more dear to my heart than yon heavens to my sight."—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"And who is the chosen?" his comrade replied,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst the deepest of crimson his swarthy cheek dyed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His severed lips trembled, his eagle eye fell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a glance on his kinsman that urged him to tell.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"'Tis Iddo's bright daughter!"—The words were scarce said—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the feet of his brother young Simeon lay dead.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It was but one blow on those temples so fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One fierce cry of anger and jealous despair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shuddering with horror his stern rival stood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gazed on those features disfigured with blood.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Weep, fratricide, weep!—'tis in vain that you cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your arms round that pale form, the struggle is past;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis in vain that chilled heart to your bosom you press,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its stillness increases your frantic distress.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +<span class="i0">You have scattered the gems in youth's beautiful crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his sun at mid-day has in darkness gone down;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He never shall bind for your false love a wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hand of the bridegroom is stiffened in death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then dash from those wild eyes the fast-flowing tear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fly!—for the City of Refuge is near.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's a murmur of voices, a shout on the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fly! fly! the Avenger of Blood is behind!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">He fled like an arrow just launched from the bow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'erwhelm'd with remorse and distracted with woe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The victim of passion—he'd gladly give all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's dearest enjoyments that hour to recall.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stain on his hands added wings to his flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As onward he sped through the shadows of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his startled ear caught in the wind's fitful moan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As it swept through the forest, a faint dying groan;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The leaves rustling near sent a chill to his heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And oft backward he glanced with an agonized start,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And felt on his throat, parched and swollen with dread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soul-thrilling grasp of the phantom-like dead.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That pang was too great for the sinner to bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his fears found a voice in wild shrieks of despair!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But the night and its long noon of horrors is past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A broad line of light on the blue hills is cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the city of refuge before him appears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a beacon of hope, giving rest to his fears—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"But hark!—the avenger of blood is at hand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dost thou hear the loud shouts of his death-dooming band?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The trampling of horses rings sharp on the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And armour is glancing at times through the trees;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On! on! for thy life!—if they compass the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy sentence is sealed and all rescue is vain?"—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">He strains every nerve—he redoubles his speed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And strength is supplied in the moment of need,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The race is for life—and the city is won,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere its broad towers reflect the first beams of the sun.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">One proud glance of triumph the fugitive threw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the band of pursuers that burst on his view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He shook his clenched hand—and a tremulous cry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rose and died on his pale lips their wrath to defy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the effort, too mighty, has severed in twain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His heart-strings—he staggers and sinks to the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the cold dews that moisten that toil-crimsoned face<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tell that death claims his victim, the prize of the race,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the city no refuge to guilt can afford—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He has found an Avenger of Blood in the Lord!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_OVERTHROW_OF" id="THE_OVERTHROW_OF"></a>THE OVERTHROW OF</h3> + +<h2>ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA.</h2> + +<h4>JUDGES VIII.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who are ye, who through the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Onward urge your desperate flight?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far and wide the hills repeat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hurried tread of armed feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ringing helm and dying groan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crash of chariots overthrown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And muttered curse and menace dire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As warriors in their rage expire.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the vengeance of the Lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the terrors of the sword,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Karkor's field, with slaughter red,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have Zebah and Zalmunna fled.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">He who checked their haughty boast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hard upon that flying host<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Presses, with avenging spear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flashing on their scattered rear:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor can hills of slaughter tire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pursuer's burning ire;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still along the hills are poured<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shouts of "Gideon and the Lord."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Morning spread her wings of light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the sable couch of night:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back the shades of darkness rolled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glowed the purple east with gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the young day's rosy glance<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gleamed on broken helm and lance,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the fearful chase was won,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the fierce pursuit was done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or the slayer staid his hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or the warrior sheathed his brand,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Or rested from the sanguine toil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or paused to share the princely spoil,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pealed along the host the cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The Lord hath won the victory!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Lo! Zebah and Zalmunna come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unheralded by trump or drum;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Harp and timbrel now are mute,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cymbal loud and softer flute.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And where are they, the bands that rent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At morn with shouts the firmament?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like clods, far stretched o'er plain and hill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their limbs are stiff, their lips are still!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Broken is the arm of war;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quenched in night is Midian's star!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hot with toil, and stained with blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet still in spirit unsubdued,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the champion of the Lord<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Midian's princes yield the sword.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Pomp and power, and crown and life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All were staked on that fell strife:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All are lost!—yet still they bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A monarch's pride in their despair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A warrior's pride, that will not yield<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though vanquished on the battle-field.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Captives of my bow and spear!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zebah and Zalmunna, hear:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God hath smitten down the pride<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Midian on the mountain's side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye are given, a helpless prey,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into Israel's hand to-day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gideon's arm is strong to spare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Princes, boldly now declare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The form and bearing of the brave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who at Tabor found a grave?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">His head the high Zalmunna raised,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A moment on the victor gazed,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And paused until the tide of thought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The image back to memory brought:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His reply was stern and brief—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"As thou art—were they, O chief!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each a regal crown might wear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each might be a monarch's heir."—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">With a sudden start and cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quivering lip and blazing eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gideon smote his clenched hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fiercely on his battle brand—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Smitten down with spear and bow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All my father's house lie low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brethren of one mother born—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As their sun went down at morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Neither crown nor regal state<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall exempt you from their fate!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the Lord of Hosts I swear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had your souls been known to spare<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The men whom ye at Tabor slew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such mercy I had shown to you!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up Jether!—for thy kindred's sake,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy father's sword and spirit take;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let Zebah and Zalmunna feel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A brother's vengeance in the steel!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Eagerly the blood-stained brand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grasped young Jether in his hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the spirit of his race<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lighted up his kindling face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his soul to vengeance woke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As he nerved him for the stroke!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Now for Gideon and the Lord!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He said—then sudden dropped the sword,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As from a palsied arm; and pressed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His hand upon his heaving breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the burning crimson streak<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faded from his altered cheek,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +<span class="i0">As he backward slowly stepped,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And turned away his head and wept.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">All unbidden to his eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Visions of his home arise:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The play-mates of his early years;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spot that kindred love endears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sunny fields; the rugged rocks;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The valley where they fed their flocks;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The still, deep stream; the drooping pride<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of willows weeping o'er the tide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And are they gone—the young and brave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who oft in sport had stemmed that wave?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When, fainting from the mid-day heat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They sought at noon that cool retreat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While one among the youthful throng<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poured forth his ardent soul in song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bade his harp's wild numbers tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Israel fled and Egypt fell!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Proudly then Zalmunna spoke:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Dost thou think we dread the stroke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doomed to stretch us on the plain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the brave in battle slain?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave yon tender boy to shed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tear-drops o'er the tombless dead:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the mighty chiefs of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art cast in sterner mould.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rise, then, champion of the Lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rise! and slay us with the sword:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life from thee we scorn to crave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Midian would not live a slave!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when Judah's harp shall raise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Songs to celebrate thy praise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let the bards of Israel tell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Zebah and Zalmunna fell!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PARAPHRASE" id="PARAPHRASE"></a>PARAPHRASE.</h2> + +<h4>PSALM XLIV.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O mighty God! our fathers told<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wondrous works thou didst of yore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy glories in the days of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wrought on proud Egypt's hostile shore.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy wrath swept through that guilty land;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Before thy face the heathen fled;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His people, with an outstretched hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Lord of Hosts in triumph led!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It was not counsel, spear, nor sword,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A heritage for Israel won;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It was Jehovah's awful word<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That led our conquering armies on.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The heathen host—their warriors brave—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were scattered when the Lord arose;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At his terrific glance, a grave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was found by Jacob's haughty foes!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">God of our strength! Almighty Power!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our sure defence, our sword and shield,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still guide our hosts in danger's hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still lead our armies to the field.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In thee we trust—what foe can stand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The awful brightness of thine eye?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Both life and death are in thy hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And in thy smile is victory!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PARAPHRASE_ISAIAH" id="PARAPHRASE_ISAIAH"></a>PARAPHRASE.</h2> + +<h4>ISAIAH XL.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Rejoice O my people! Jehovah hath spoken!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark chain of sin and oppression is broken;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy warfare is over, thy bondage is past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Lord hath looked down on his chosen at last.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A voice from the wilderness breaks on mine ear—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O Israel, rejoice! thy redemption is near:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A path for our God the wild desert shall yield;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He comes in the light of salvation revealed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His word hath declared, who speaks not in vain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He bends the high mountain, exalts the low plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All flesh shall behold him, far nations shall bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their glad songs of triumph to welcome their King!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">As the grass of the field in the morning is green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So man, in his beauty and vigour, is seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A perishing glory, the beam of a day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A flower that will fade with the evening away:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The breath of the Lord o'er its verdure shall pass;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The freshness shall wither and fade like the grass;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The flower from its stem the rude whirlwind may sever,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the word of our God is established for ever!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O Zion, that bringeth good tidings of peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raise thy voice in the song, thy afflictions shall cease;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise in thy strength, banish every base fear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tell the cities of Judah redemption is near:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He comes! and his works shall his glory reveal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He comes! his lost children to succour and heal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In mercy and truth to establish his throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That his name to the ends of the earth may be known!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_VISION_OF" id="THE_VISION_OF"></a>THE VISION OF</h3> +<h2>DRY BONES.</h2> + +<h4>EZEKIEL XXXVII.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Spirit of God with resistless control,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a sunbeam, illumined the depths of my soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And visions prophetical burst on my sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As he carried me forth in the power of his might.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Around me I saw in a desolate heap<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The relics of those who had slept their death-sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the midst of the valley, all reckless and bare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the hope of my country, lie withering there,—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Son of man! can these dry bones, long bleached in decay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ever feel in their flesh the warm beams of the day;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Can the spirit of life ever enter again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The perishing heaps that now whiten the plain?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Lord, thou knowest alone, who their being first gave:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy power may be felt in the depths of the grave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hand that created again may impart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rich tide of feeling and life to the heart.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Lo, these dry bones are withered and shrunk in the blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er their ashes the tempests of ages have past;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the flesh that once covered each mouldering frame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the dust of the earth is re-mingled again:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the voice of their God, son of man, they shall rise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The light shall revisit their death-darkened eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their sinews and flesh shall again be restored,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They shall live and acknowledge the power of the Lord!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And lo! as I prophesied o'er them, a sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the rushing of water, was heard all around:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The earth trembled and shook like a leaf in the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As those long-severed limbs to each other were joined,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And flesh came upon them, and beauty and grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Returned, as in life, to each warrior's face.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A numberless host they lay stretched on the sod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All glowing and fresh from the hand of their God.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But the deep sleep of death on each eyelid still hung;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each figure was motionless, mute every tongue:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through those slumbering thousands there breathed not a sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And silence, unbroken, reigned awfully round:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Raise thy voice, son of man! call the winds from on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As viewless they sweep o'er the brow of the sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And life shall return on the wings of the blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the slumber of death shall be broken at last."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I called to the wind—and a deep answer came<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the rush of the tempest, the bursting of flame;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the spirit of life, as it breathed on the dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Restored to each body the soul that had fled.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoicing to break from that dreamless repose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a host in the dark day of battle they rose;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He alone who had formed them could number again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The myriads that filled all the valley and plain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Son of man! in this numerous army behold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My chosen of Israel, beloved of old.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>They say</i> that the hope of existence is o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That no power from death's grasp can the spirit restore:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He who called you my people is mighty to save,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your God can re-open the gates of the grave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the chain of oblivion the soul can release,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And restore you again to your country in peace!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE" id="THE"></a>THE</h3> +<h2>DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">An awful vision floats before my sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Black as the storm and fearful as the night:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy fall, oh Babylon!—the awful doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pronounced by Heaven to hurl thee to the tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Peals in prophetic thunder in mine ear—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The voice of God foretelling ruin near!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hark! what strange murmurs from the hills arise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like rushing torrents from the bursting skies!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Loud as the billows of the restless tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In strange confusion flowing far and wide,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Ring the deep tones of horror and dismay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shriek—the shout—the battle's stern array—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gathering cry of nations from afar—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tramp of steeds—the tumult of the war—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Burst on mine ear, and o'er thy fated towers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hovers despair, and fierce destruction lowers;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within the fire—without the vengeful sword;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who leads those hosts against thee but the Lord?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Proud queen of nations! where is now thy trust?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy crown is ashes and thy throne the dust.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crowds who fill thy gates shall pass away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As night's dim shadows flee the eye of day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No patriot voice thy glory shall recall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No eye shall weep, no tongue lament thy fall.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The day of vengeance comes—the awful hour—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fraught with the terrors of almighty power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The arm of God is raised against thy walls;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Destruction hovers o'er thy princely halls,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Flings his red banner to the rising wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While death's stern war-cry echoes far behind.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the full horrors of that hour are felt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The warrior's heart shall as the infant's melt;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counsel shall flee the learned and the old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fears unfelt before shall tame the bold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Woe for thee, Babylon!—thy men of might<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall fall unhonoured in the sanguine fight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the chased roe thy hosts disordered fly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And those who turn to strive but turn to die.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy young men tremble and thy maids grow pale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And swell with frantic grief thy funeral wail;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They kneel for mercy, but they sue in vain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their beauty withers on the gore-dyed plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With fathers, lovers, brothers, meet their doom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And 'mid thy blackened ruins find a tomb.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of fear unconscious, in soft slumbers blest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The infant dies upon its mother's breast,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Unpitied e'en by her—the hand that gave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The blow has sent the parent to the grave.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Queen of the East! all desolate and lone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more shall nations bow before thy throne.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Low in the dust thy boasted beauty lies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Loud through thy princely domes the bittern cries,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the night wind in mournful cadence sighs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The step of man and childhood's joyous voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are heard no more, and never shall rejoice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy lonely echoes; savage beasts shall come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And find among thy palaces a home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dragon there shall rear her scaly brood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And satyrs dance where once thy temples stood;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lion, roaming on his angry way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall on thy sacred altars rend his prey;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The distant <i>isles</i> at midnight gloom shall hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their frightful clamours, and, in secret, fear.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">No more their snowy flocks shall shepherds lead<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By Babel's silver stream and fertile mead;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or peasant girls at summer's eve repair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To wreathe with wilding flowers their flowing hair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or pour their plaintive ditties to the wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That rolls its sullen murmurs o'er thy grave.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wandering Arab there no rest shall find,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, starting, listen to the hollow wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That howls, prophetic, through thy ruined halls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And flee in haste from thy accursed walls.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh Babylon, with wrath encompassed round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thee no hope, no mercy, shall be found:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy doom is sealed—e'en to thy ruin clings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The awful sentence of the King of kings!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="TO_THE_MEMORY_OF" id="TO_THE_MEMORY_OF"></a>TO THE MEMORY OF</h3> + +<h2>MRS. EWING.</h2> + +<h4>WRITTEN AFTER PERUSING THE INTERESTING MEMOIR<br /> +COMPOSED BY HER HUSBAND, THE REV. GREVILLE EWING.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Daughter of Scotland! may a stranger twine<br /></span> +<span class="i2">One cypress wreath around thy honoured urn?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, when I meditate on faith like thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I feel my breast with sacred ardour burn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep admiration checks the starting tear,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such drops would stain a Ewing's holy bier!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Death was to thee a messenger of love;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He met thee in the path thy Saviour trod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bearing this blessed mandate from above,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Come, happy spirit—come away to God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy works of piety on earth are o'er,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plume thy bright wing to reach the heavenly shore!"<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Calm was thy exit from this troubled scene;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Pain from thy lips no hasty murmurs wrung;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With brow unruffled and with mind serene,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy Saviour's praise employed thy faltering tongue:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And though no kindling raptures marked thy flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy faith unshaken <i>showed that all was right</i>!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those who beheld thee in the burning hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When fever raged in every throbbing vein,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oft shall recount the parting struggle o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The scene on memory's tablets long retain—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each gracious word, each kindly glance, that told<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Christian's love, ere that warm heart was cold!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy memory is a pure and holy thing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Embalmed and treasured in the hearts of those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who saw thee, like an angel, ministering<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The precious balm that softens human woes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou didst not hide thy talent in the dust;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Anxious that all should own the same high trust.—<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Deeply concerned that other realms should share<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Those blessed promises so dear to thee,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That messengers of mercy should declare<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Glad tidings far beyond thy native sea;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy bounteous spirit compassed land and wave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To send redemption to the soil-bound slave!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But not to foreign realms and climes alone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Didst thou confine a Christian's sacred zeal;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With all a mother's fondness for thine own,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The deep devotion faith alone could feel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas thine the drooping penitent to cheer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wipe from sorrow's eyes the gushing tear!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And like the faithful saints and priests of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou with thy honoured partner didst go forth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Exploring barren heath and mountain hold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Far through the isles and highlands of the north,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To teach the Gospel in each rocky glen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bless with Scripture truths unlearned men!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy zeal was felt along the rugged wild,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Heard round the hearth where pious maidens meet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And matrons oft shall tell the rosy child,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Twining its wilding garlands at their feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bless her name—who, conquering selfish pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sought them on foot to tell how Jesus died!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Daughter of Scotland! when her bards shall trace<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The noble deeds of thy illustrious line,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy sainted name a fairer page shall grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A brighter wreath for thee the minstrel twine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than ever crowned thy warlike sires of yore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than history ever gave or genius wore!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="TO_THE_MEMORY" id="TO_THE_MEMORY"></a>TO THE MEMORY</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h2><span class="smcap">R. R. Jun.</span></h2> + +<h4>LATE OF IPSWICH, AND ONE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From thy sad sire and weeping kindred torn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thine is the crown of everlasting life;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On thy closed eye has burst a brighter morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In realms where joy and peace alone are rife;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy soul, in Christ, enlightened and new-born,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Has meekly triumphed over nature's strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And passed the dreary portals of the grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strong in the faith of Him who died to save!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Soldier of Christ! thy warfare now is o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy toils accomplished and thy trials done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thou shalt weep and sigh, young saint, no more;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With thee the scene is closed, the race is run.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death heaved the bar of that eternal door;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The palm is gained,—the victory is won,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And earthly sorrows shall no more alloy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy soul's pure raptures in those realms of joy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! who would weep for thee?—the early blessed—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who that has mourned the tyranny of sin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The strong temptations which assail the breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The fiery passions warring still within,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But does not envy thee thy heavenly rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sighing, wish that they at length may win<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The narrow path thy faith and patience trod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And meet thee in the presence of thy God?<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though friends who loved thee weep above thy bier,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And kindred anguish find in grief a voice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We will not mourn thy exit from this sphere,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When angels in the heaven of heavens rejoice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When God's own hand hath wiped away each tear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And crowned with endless life thy happy choice.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh blessed lot—oh change with rapture fraught,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Surpassing human love—and human thought!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="AN_APPEAL" id="AN_APPEAL"></a>AN</h3> +<h2>APPEAL TO THE FREE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Offspring of heaven, fair Freedom! impart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The light of thy spirit to quicken each heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though the chains of oppression our free limbs ne'er bound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bid us feel for the wretch round whose soul they are wound;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose breast is corroded with anguish so deep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the eye of the slave is too blood-shot to weep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No balm from the fountain of nature will flow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the mind is degraded by fetter and blow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The friends of humanity nobly have striven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the bonds of the heart-broken slave are unriven!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst Religion extends o'er those champions her shield,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May they never to party or prejudice yield<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glorious cause by all freemen espoused.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A light shines abroad and the lion is roused;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crush of the iron has struck fire from the stone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bid them back to the charge—and the field is their own!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ye children of Britain! brave sons of the Isles!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who revel in freedom and bask in her smiles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can ye sanction such deeds as are done in the West<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sink on your pillows untroubled to rest?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are your slumbers unbroken by visions of dread?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does no spectre of misery glare on your bed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No cry of despair break the silence of night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thrill the cold hearts that ne'er throbbed for the right?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Are ye fathers,—nor pity those children bereaved<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the birth-right which man from his Maker received?<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Are ye husbands,—and blest with affectionate wives,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The comfort, the solace, the joy of your lives,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And feel not for him whom a tyrant can sever<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the wife of his bosom and children for ever?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are ye Christians, enlightened with precepts divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And suffer a brother in bondage to pine?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are ye men, whom fair freedom has marked for her own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet listen unmoved to the negro's deep groan?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ah no!—ye are slaves!—for the freeborn in mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are the children of mercy, the friends of mankind:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By no base, selfish motive their actions are weighed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They barter no souls in an infamous trade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They eat not the bread which is moistened by tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And carelessly talk of the bondage of years;—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They feel as men should feel;—the clank of the chain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bids them call upon Justice to cleave it in twain!—<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WAR" id="WAR"></a>WAR.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dark spirit! who through every age<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hast cast a baleful gloom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stern lord of strife and civil rage,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The dungeon and the tomb!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What homage should men pay to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spirit of woe and anarchy?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yet there are those who in thy train<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Can feel a fierce delight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who rush, exulting, to the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And triumph in the fight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the red banner floats afar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the crimson tide of war.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who is the knight on sable steed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That comes with thundering tread?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dark warrior, slack thy furious speed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor trample on the dead:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A youthful chief before thee lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Struggling in life's last agonies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh pause one moment in thy course,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Those lineaments to trace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dost thou not feel a strange remorse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whilst gazing on that face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where grace and manly beauty meet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To die beneath thy courser's feet?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those sunny tresses scattered wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And soiled with dust and blood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were once a mother's fondest pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When at her knee he stood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rosy, playful, laughing boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her lonely heart's sole hope and joy.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But youth a glowing vision brought,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And whispered glory's name,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Renown, with every burning thought<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Linked to ambition, came:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a young war-horse in his might,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He panted for the desperate fight.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For civil discord rent the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His warrior sire, afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against his sovereign raised the brand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The leader of the war:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By honour fired the stripling draws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His weapon in the royal cause.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Stretched bleeding on the battle-field<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His first, last strife is done;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more his hand the sword shall wield,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His eyes behold the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or his pale lips repeat the cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thrilling shout of victory!—<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He struggles yet—the strife is o'er—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The soul hath winged its flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Again beholds its native shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A spirit robed in light.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What now avail his mother's cares—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her silent tears—her nightly prayers?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On that young soldier's prostrate form<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The warrior grimly smiled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if he viewed in secret scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That face so fair and mild;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why springs he to the fatal plain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gaze upon that form again?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Why does his eye in frenzy roll?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Why is his clenched hand raised?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What thought quick rushed across his soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When on that boy he gazed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His quivering lip and swollen brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His mental agonies avow.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Can sorrow touch that iron heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So long to mercy steeled?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From those fierce eyes the big drops start,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He sinks upon the field.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Night closes round, the strife is done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That warrior sleeps beside his son!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_EARTHQUAKE" id="THE_EARTHQUAKE"></a>THE EARTHQUAKE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There was no sound in earth or air,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And soft the moonbeams smiled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On stately tower and temple fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like mother o'er her child;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all was hushed in the deep repose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That welcomes the summer evening's close.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Many an eye that day had wept,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And many a cheek with joy grew bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which now, alike unconscious, slept<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath the wan moonlight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mandolin and gay guitar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had ceased to woo the evening star.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The lover has sought his couch again,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the maiden's eyes no longer glisten,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As she comes to the lattice to catch his strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sighs while she bends to smile and listen.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sleeps, but her rosy lips still move,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in dreams she answers the voice of love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sleep on, ye thoughtless and giddy train,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sorrow comes with the dawning ray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye never shall wake to joy again,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or your gay laugh gladden the rising day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Death sits brooding above your towers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And destruction rides on the coming hours.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day has dawned—but not a breath<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sighs through the sultry air;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heavens above and earth beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i2">One gloomy aspect wear—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Horror and doubt and wild dismay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Welcome the dawn of that fatal day.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hark!—'tis not the thunder's lengthened peal!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hark!—'tis not the winds that rise;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or the heavy crush of the laden wheel,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That echoes through the skies—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the sound that gives the earthquake birth!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis the heavy groans of the rending earth!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, there were shrieks of wild affright,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sounds of hurrying feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And men who cursed the lurid light,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose glance they feared to meet:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And some sunk down in mute despair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the parched earth, and perished there.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It comes!—it comes!—that lengthened shock—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The earth before it reels—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stately towers and temples rock,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The dark abyss reveals<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its fiery depths—the strife is o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The city sinks to rise no more.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She has passed from earth like a fearful dream;—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where her pomp and splendour rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There runs a dark and turbid stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And a sable cloud its shadow throws;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pale sorrow broods in silence there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mourn the perished things that were.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LINES" id="LINES"></a>LINES</h2> + +<h4>WRITTEN AMIDST THE RUINS OF A CHURCH<br /> +ON THE COAST OF SUFFOLK.<br /></h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"What hast thou seen in the olden time,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dark ruin, lone and gray?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Full many a race from thy native clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the bright earth, pass away.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The organ has pealed in these roofless aisles,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And priests have knelt to pray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the altar, where now the daisy smiles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er their silent beds of clay.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I've seen the strong man a wailing child,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By his mother offered here;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I've seen him a warrior fierce and wild;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I've seen him on his bier,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His warlike harness beside him laid<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the silent earth to rust;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His plumed helm and trusty blade<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To moulder into dust!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I've seen the stern reformer scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The things once deemed divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the bigot's zeal with gems adorn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The altar's sacred shrine.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I've seen the silken banners wave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where now the ivy clings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sculptured stone adorn the grave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of mitred priests and kings.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I've seen the youth in his tameless glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the hoary locks of age,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Together bend the pious knee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To read the sacred page;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I've seen the maid with her sunny brow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the silent dust go down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soil-bound slave forget his woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The king resign his crown.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ages have fled—and I have seen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The young—the fair—the gay—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forgot as if they ne'er had been,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Though worshipped in their day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And school-boys here their revels keep,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And spring from grave to grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unconscious that beneath them sleep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The noble and the brave.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Here thousands find a resting place<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who bent before this shrine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their dust is here—their name and race,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oblivion; now are thine!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The prince—the peer—the peasant sleeps<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Alike beneath the sod;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Time o'er their dust short record keeps,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Forgotten save by God!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I've seen the face of nature change,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And where the wild waves beat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The eye delightedly might range<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er many a goodly seat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But hill, and dale, and forest fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are whelmed beneath the tide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They slumber here—who could declare<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who owned those manors wide!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"All thou hast felt—these sleepers knew;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For human hearts are still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In every age to nature true,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And swayed by good or ill:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By passion ruled and born to woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unceasing tears they shed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But thou must sleep, like them, to know<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The secrets of the dead!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_OLD_ASH_TREE" id="THE_OLD_ASH_TREE"></a>THE OLD ASH TREE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou beautiful Ash! thou art lowly laid,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And my eyes shall hail no more<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From afar thy cool and refreshing shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When the toilsome journey's o'er.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The winged and the wandering tribes of air<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A home 'mid thy foliage found,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But thy graceful boughs, all broken and bare,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wild winds are scattering round.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The storm-demon sent up his loudest shout<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When he levelled his bolt at thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When thy massy trunk and thy branches stout<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were riven by the blast, old tree!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +<span class="i0">It has bowed to the dust thy stately form,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which for many an age defied<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rush and the roar of the midnight storm,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When it swept through thy branches wide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have gazed on thee with a fond delight<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In childhood's happier day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And watched the moonbeams of a summer night<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through thy quivering branches play.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have gathered the ivy wreaths that bound<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy old fantastic roots,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wove the wild flowers that blossomed round<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With spring's first tender shoots.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And when youth with its glowing visions came,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou wert still my favourite seat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the ardent dreams of future fame<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were formed at thy hoary feet.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Farewell—farewell—the wintry wind<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Has waged unsparing war on thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And only pictured on my mind<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Remains thy form, time-honoured tree!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_NAMELESS_GRAVE" id="THE_NAMELESS_GRAVE"></a>THE NAMELESS GRAVE.</h2> + +<h4>WRITTEN IN COVE CHURCH-YARD; AND OCCASIONED BY<br /> +OBSERVING MY OWN SHADOW THROWN ACROSS A GRAVE.<br /></h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Tell me, thou grassy mound,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">What dost thou cover?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In thy folds hast thou bound<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Soldier or lover?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Time o'er the turf no memorial is keeping<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who in this lone grave forgotten is sleeping?"—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"The sun's westward ray<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A dark shadow has thrown<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On this dwelling of clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And the shade is thine own!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From dust and oblivion this stern lesson borrow—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art living to-day and forgotten to-morrow!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_PAUSE" id="THE_PAUSE"></a>THE PAUSE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a pause in nature, ere the storm<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Rushes resistless in its awful might;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a softening twilight, ere the morn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Expands her wings of glory into light.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a sudden stillness in the heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere yet the tears of wounded feeling flow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A speechless expectation, ere the dart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of sorrow lays our fondest wishes low.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a dreamy silence in the mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere yet it wakes to energy of thought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A breathless pause of feeling, undefined,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere the bright image is from fancy caught.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is a pause more holy still,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When Faith a brighter hope has given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, soaring over earthly ill,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The soul looks up to heaven!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="UNCERTAINTY" id="UNCERTAINTY"></a>UNCERTAINTY.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh dread uncertainty!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life-wasting agony!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How dost thou pain the heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Causing such tears to start,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As sorrow never shed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er hopes for ever fled.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For memory hoards up joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond Time's dull alloy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pleasures that once have been<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shed light upon the scene,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As setting suns fling back<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A bright and glowing track,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +<span class="i0">To show they once have cast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A glory o'er the past;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But thou, tormenting fiend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath Hope's pinions screened,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leagued with distrust and pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Makest her promise vain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weaving in life's fair crown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thistles instead of down.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Who would not rather know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Present than coming woe?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For certain sorrow brings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A healing in its wings.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The softening touch of years<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still dries the mourner's tears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For human minds inherit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A gay, elastic spirit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which rises in the hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of trial, with such power,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +<span class="i0">That men, with wonder, find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sorrow is less unkind;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That human hearts can bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All evils but despair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or that anticipated grief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, for a season, mocks relief.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Uncertainty still clings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To earth's fair but fleeting things;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mortals vainly trust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In fabrics formed of dust!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We look into life's waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tread its paths in haste;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The past—for ever flown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The present—scarce our own;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While, cold and dim, before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stretches the shadowy shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark futurity, which lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond the glance of mortal eyes,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Wrapped in the mystic gloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which canopies the tomb.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But faith can pour a light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the spirit's earthly night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And break that sullen shroud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As a star bursts through the cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To show the upward eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The clear, but distant, sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The land of joy and peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where doubts and sorrows cease.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_WARNING" id="THE_WARNING"></a>THE WARNING.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the eye whose kind beam was the beacon of gladness<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From the glance of a lover turns coldly away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the bright sun of hope float the dark clouds of sadness,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And youth's lovely visions recede with the ray.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh turn not where pleasure's wild meteor is beaming,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And night's dreary shades wear the splendour of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the rich festive board where the red wine is streaming;—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Can the dance and the song disappointment allay?<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh heed not the Syren! for virtue is weeping<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where passion is struggling her victim to chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Conscience, deep drugged, in her soft lap is sleeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Till startled by memory and quickened by pain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh heed not the minstrel, when music is breathing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the cold ear of fashion his heart-searching strain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pluck not the rose round Love's diadem wreathing;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The garland by beauty is woven in vain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The pleasures of life, like its moments, are fleeting;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oh let not its trifles your firm purpose move;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But think as those moments are slowly retreating,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How feebly against its enchantments you strove:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then turn from the world, and, its follies forsaking,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Raise your eyes to the day-star of gladness above;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's a balm for each wound, though the fond heart is breaking,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A Lethé divine in the fountain of Love!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="LINES_INFANT" id="LINES_INFANT"></a>LINES</h3> + +<h4>ON A</h4> + +<h2>NEW-BORN INFANT.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Like a dew-drop from heaven in the ocean of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From the morn's rosy diadem falling,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A stranger as yet to the storms and the strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dear babe, of thy earthly calling!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thine eyes have unclosed on this valley of tears;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hark! that cry is the herald of anguish and woe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy young spirit finds a deep voice for its fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Prophetic of all that is passing below.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How short will the term of thy ignorance be!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The winds and the tempests will rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And passion will cover with wrecks the calm sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On whose surface no shadow now lies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Unclouded and fair is the morn of thy birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The first lovely day in a season of gloom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst a pilgrim and stranger thou treadest this earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May the sunbeams of hope gild thy path to the tomb.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Infant son (since dead) of Mr. James Bird, author of the +<i>Vale of Slaughden</i>.</p></div> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_CHRISTIAN_MOTHER" id="THE_CHRISTIAN_MOTHER"></a>THE</h3> +<h2>CHRISTIAN MOTHER'S LAMENT.</h2> + +<h4>THE FOLLOWING LITTLE POEM WAS SUGGESTED BY A PASSAGE IN THE MEMOIRS<br /> +OF THE LATE MRS. SUSAN HUNTINGTON OF BOSTON, NEW ENGLAND.<br /></h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah! cold at my feet thou art sleeping, my boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And I press on thy pale lips, in vain, the fond kiss;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth opens her arms to receive thee, my joy!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And all I have suffered was nothing to this:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day-star of hope 'neath thine eyelids is sleeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more to arise at the voice of my weeping.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, how art thou changed!—since the light breath of morning<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dispelled the soft dew-drops in showers from the tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a beautiful bud, my lone dwelling adorning,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy smiles called up feelings of rapture in me;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +<span class="i0">I thought not the sunbeams all brightly that shone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On thy waking, at eve would behold me alone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The joy that flashed out from those death-shrouded eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That laughed in thy dimples and brightened thy cheek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is quenched—but the smile on thy pale lip that lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now tells of a joy that no language can speak.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fountain is sealed, the young spirit at rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, why should I mourn thee—my loved one—my blest?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CHILDS_FIRST_GRIEFB" id="THE_CHILDS_FIRST_GRIEFB"></a>THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sorrow has touched thee, my beautiful boy!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dimmed the bright eyes that were dancing with joy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy ruby lips tremble, thy soft cheek is wet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tears on its roses are lingering yet.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On thy quick-heaving heart is thy little hand pressed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is care on thy brow—there is grief in thy breast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And slowly and darkly the shadow steals o'er thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the first time the vision of death is before thee!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Meet emblem of childhood—that innocent dove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was the sharer alike of thy sports and thy love;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy playmate is dead—and that tenantless cage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has stamped the first grief upon memory's page.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And oh!—thou art weeping—Life's fountain of tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Once unchained, will flow on through the desert of years;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No joy will e'er equal thy first dawn of bliss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No sorrow blot out the remembrance of this!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though reason may smile at the anguish which now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Convulses thy bosom and darkens thy brow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The period may come, in thy journey through life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When sick of its falsehood, corruption, and strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou vainly shall seek in thy desolate track<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bring those sweet feelings and sympathies back;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thy spirit will murmur, when vexed and reviled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh would I could weep—as I wept when a child!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But let us not darken the landscape with gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fling round the cradle the shade of the tomb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sorrows of youth are like April's rash showers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which though rapidly shed, strew our pathway with flowers:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the soft downy cheek, while the tear glistens bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The young heart is leaping, all wild with delight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glance of a sunbeam will banish its pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And it joyously breaks into laughter again!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, our early impressions are never forgot—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the wide earth contains not so lovely a spot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the fields that encircled the home of our youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With all its dear visions of beauty and truth:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No meads are so green, and no flowers are so fair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the wildings we gathered and garlanded there;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the dim eye grows bright whilst recounting the joy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sorrows, and trials, and sports of the boy!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Written to illustrate a plate by Westall, in <i>Friendship's +Offering</i>, for 1830. To those who have not seen the picture, it may be +proper to state, that the subject is a child weeping over a dead dove.</p></div> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_LAMENT_OF_THE_DISAPPOINTED" id="THE_LAMENT_OF_THE_DISAPPOINTED"></a>THE</h3> +<h2>LAMENT OF THE DISAPPOINTED.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When will the grave fling her cold arms around me,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And earth on her dark bosom pillow my head?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sorrow and trouble and anguish, have found me,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oh that I slumbered in peace with the dead!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The forests are budding, the fruit-trees in bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But my soul is bowed down by the spirit of gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I no longer rejoice as the blossoms expand.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And April is here with her rich varied skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the sunbeams of hope with the tempest contend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the bright drops that flow from her deep azure eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On the bosom of nature like diamonds descend.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She scatters her jewels o'er forest and lea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And casts in earth's lap all the wealth of the year;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But the promise she brings wakes no transports in me,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still the landscape looks dim through the fast flowing tear."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thus sung a poor exile, whom Sorrow had banished<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From Joy's golden halls, in those moments when care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Struck deep in her soul and Hope's sunny smiles vanished,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And her spirit grew dark 'neath the scowl of despair.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But oh! there's a balm e'en for anguish like thine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And He who permitted the evil has given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In exchange for this lost earth, an Eden divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Revealing to man all the glories of heaven.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then hush these vain murmurs, arise from the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Submit to the hand who the dark chain can sever<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of sorrow and sin:—God is faithful and just—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oh seek but his face and be happy for ever!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HYMN" id="HYMN"></a>HYMN</h2> +<h3>OF THE CONVALESCENT.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My eyes have seen another spring<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In floral beauty rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And happy birds on gladsome wing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Flit through the azure skies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though sickness bowed my feeble frame<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Through winter's cheerless hours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's sinking torch resumes its flame<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With renovated powers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Once more on nature's ample shrine,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath the spreading boughs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With lifted hands and hopes divine<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I offer up my vows.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +<span class="i0">My incense is the breath of flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Perfuming all the air;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My pillared fane these woodland bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A heaven-built house of prayer;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My fellow-worshippers, the gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Free songsters of the grove,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who to the closing eye of day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Warble their hymns of love.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The low and dulcet lyre of spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Swept by the vagrant breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Borne far on echo's spreading wing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Stirs all the budding trees—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Again I catch the cuckoo's note<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That faintly murmurs near,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mingled melodies that float<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To rapture's listening ear.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +<span class="i0">While April like a virgin pale<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Retreats with modest grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And blushing through her tearful veil<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Just shows her cherub face.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis but a momentary gleam<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From those young laughing eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, like a meteor's passing beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It lights up earth, and skies:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, ere the sun exhales the dew<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That sparkles on the grass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dark clouds flit o'er the smiling blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like shadows o'er a glass.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But ah! upon the musing mind<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Those varied smiles and tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like words of love but half defined,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Give birth to hopes and fears.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The joyful heart one moment bounds,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then feels a sudden chill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whispering in vague uncertain sounds<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Presentiments of ill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When dire disease an arrow sent,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thrilled my breast with pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My mind was like a bow unbent,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or harp-strings after rain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I could not weep—I could not pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor raise my thoughts on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till light from heaven, like April's ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Broke through the stormy sky!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="YOUTH_AND_AGE" id="YOUTH_AND_AGE"></a>YOUTH AND AGE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6"><b>YOUTH.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pilgrim of life! thy hoary head<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is bent with age, thine eye<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Looks downward to the silent dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wreck of mortality!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The friends who flourished in thy day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Have sought their narrow home;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their spirits whisper, "Come away!"—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>AGE.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">My soul replies, I come.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I tread the path I trod a child,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The fields I loved of yore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The flowers that 'neath my footsteps smiled<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now meet my gaze no more.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +<span class="i0">I stand beneath this giant oak!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It was an aged tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hollowed by time's resistless stroke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When life was green with me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its lofty head it proudly rears<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To greet the summer sky,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst, bending with the weight of years,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I feebly totter by.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hushed are all the thousand songs<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That filled these branches high:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo no more for me prolongs<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The woodland minstrelsy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Silence has gathered round life's hall;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My friends are in the clay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I hear no more the footsteps fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That cheered my early day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see no more the faces dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which shone around my hearth:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bereft of all—I sojourn here—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still happy, though on earth!—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +<span class="i6"><b>YOUTH.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And canst thou smile when all are gone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who shared thy youthful prime;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Content to wait and watch alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To grapple still with time?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How comes it that thou thus below<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hast rest above the sod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which brings to memory scenes of woe?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>AGE.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">It is the will of God!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MARY_HUME" id="MARY_HUME"></a>MARY HUME.</h2> + +<h4>A BALLAD.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He will come to night," young Mary said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And checked the rising sigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gazed on the stars that o'er her head<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shone out in the deep blue sky.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Heaven speed his voyage!—though absent long,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The painful vigil's o'er—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The skies are clear—the breeze is strong—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We meet to part no more!"<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While yet she spoke a sudden chill<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er her ardent spirit crept;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sad presentiment of ill—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She turned away and wept.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far off the sigh of ocean stole—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sweeping of the sounding surge—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In plaintive murmurs o'er her soul,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like wailing of a funeral dirge.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And in the wind there is a tone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which whispers to her sinking heart—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Mary we meet in death alone;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In realms of bliss no more to part."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon has sunk in her ocean cave,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fled are the shades of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And morning bursts on the purple wave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In floods of golden-light.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sudden stroke of the village bell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Checks the fisher's blithesome song;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He pauses to hear how rock and fell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its sullen tones prolong.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Some soul to its last account has sped:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dost thou hear that solemn sound?"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"'Tis Mary Hume!"—his comrade said—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Last night her love was drowned!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_SPIRIT_OF_MOTION" id="THE_SPIRIT_OF_MOTION"></a>THE SPIRIT OF MOTION.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spirit of eternal motion!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ruler of the stormy ocean,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lifter of the restless waves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rider of the blast that raves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hoarsely through yon lofty oak,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bending to thy mystic stroke;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Man from age to age has sought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy secret—but it baffles thought!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Agent of the Deity!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Offspring of eternity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guider of the steeds of time<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Along the starry track sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Founder of each wondrous art,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mover of the human heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since the world's primeval day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All nature has confessed thy sway.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">They who strive thy laws to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Might as well arrest the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Measure out the drops of rain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Count the sands which bound the main,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quell the earthquake's sullen shock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chain the eagle to the rock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bid the sun his heat assuage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mountain torrent cease to rage.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spirit, active and divine—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life and all its powers are thine!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Guided by the first great cause,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sun and moon obey thy laws,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which to man must ever be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wonder and a mystery,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Known alone to him who gave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thee sovereignty o'er wind and wave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And only chained thee in the grave!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_GALE_OF_WIND" id="A_GALE_OF_WIND"></a>LINES</h2> +<h4>WRITTEN DURING</h4> +<h3>A GALE OF WIND.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh nature! though the blast is yelling,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Loud roaring through the bending tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's sorrow in man's darksome dwelling,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's rapture still with thee!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I gaze upon the clouds wind-driven,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The white storm-crested deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart with human cares is riven—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er these—I cannot weep.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis not the rush of wave or wind<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That wakes my anxious fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That presses on my troubled mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fills my eyes with tears;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I feel the icy breath of sorrow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My ardent spirit chill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark—dark presage of the morrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sense of coming ill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I hear the mighty billows rave;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's music in their roar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When strong in wrath the wind-lashed wave<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Springs on the groaning shore;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A solemn pleasure in the tone<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That shakes the lonely woods,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As winter mounts his icy throne<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Mid storms and wasting floods.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The trumpet of the angry blast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Peals loud o'er earth and main;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The elemental strife is past,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The heavens are bright again.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And shall I doubt the healing power<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of Him who lives to save,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who in this dark appalling hour<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Can silence wind and wave?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Almighty Ruler of the storm!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">One beam of grace display,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the fierce tempests that deform<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My soul, shall pass away.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_SPIRIT_OF_THE_SPRING" id="THE_SPIRIT_OF_THE_SPRING"></a>THE</h3> +<h2>SPIRIT OF THE SPRING.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The spirit of the shower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of the sunshine and the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the dewy twilight hour,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the bud and opening flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My soul delighted sees.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stern winter's robe of gray,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath thy balmy sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like mist-wreaths melt away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the rosy laughing day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lifts up his golden eye.—<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spirit of ethereal birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy azure banner floats,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In lucid folds, o'er air and earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And budding woods pour forth their mirth<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In rapture-breathing notes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see upon the fleecy cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The spreading of thy wings;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hills and vales rejoice aloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Nature, starting from her shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To meet her bridegroom springs.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spirit of the rainbow zone,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of the fresh and breezy morn,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spirit of climes where joy alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For ever hovers round thy throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On wings of light upborne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternal youth is in thy train<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With rapture-beaming eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Beauty, with her magic chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Hope, that laughs at present pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Points up to cloudless skies.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spirit of love, of life, and light!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Each year we hail thy birth—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The day-star from the grave of night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That set to rise in skies more bright,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To bless the sons of earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With leaf—and bud—and perfumed flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still deck the barren sod;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In thee we trace a higher power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In thee we claim a brighter dower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The day-spring of our God!—<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="O_COME_TO_THE_MEADOWS" id="O_COME_TO_THE_MEADOWS"></a>O COME TO THE MEADOWS.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O come to the meadows! I'll show you where<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Primrose and violet blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the hawthorn spreads its blossoms fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">White as the driven snow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll show you where the daisies dot<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With silver stars the lea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The orchis, and forget-me-not,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The flower of memory!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The gold-cup and the meadow-sweet,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That love the river's side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The reed that bows the wave to meet,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And sighs above the tide.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The stately flag that gaily rears<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aloft its yellow crest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lily in whose cup the tears<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of morn delight to rest.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The first in Nature's dainty wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll cull the brier-rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crowfoot and the purple heath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And pink that sweetly blows.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hare-bell with its airy flowers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall deck my Laura's breast,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all that bud in woodland bowers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I love the hare-bell best!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I'll pull the bonny golden broom<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To bind thy flowing hair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thee the eglantine shall bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose fragrance fills the air.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +<span class="i0">We'll sit beside yon wooded knoll,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To hear the blackbird sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fancy in his merry troll<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The joyous voice of spring!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We'll sit and watch the sparkling waves<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That leap exulting by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst in the pines above us raves<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wind's wild minstrelsy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It swells the echoes of the grove,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Tis Nature's plaintive voice;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The winds and waters breathe of love,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And all her tribes rejoice.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whilst youth, and hope, and health are ours,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We'll rove the verdant glade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ah! spring's sweetest, loveliest flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like us, but bloom to fade.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +<span class="i0">They spread their beauties to the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And live their little day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then droop, and wither, one by one,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Till all are passed away.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Already scattered in the dust<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My first May garland lies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hope that owns a mortal trust,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As quickly fades and dies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then let us seek a brighter wreath<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Than Nature here has given;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The flowers of virtue bud beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But only bloom in heaven!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THOU_WILT_THINK_OF_ME_LOVE" id="THOU_WILT_THINK_OF_ME_LOVE"></a>THOU WILT THINK OF ME, LOVE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When these eyes, long dimmed with weeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the silent dust are sleeping;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When above my narrow bed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The breeze shall wave the thistle's head—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the queen of beams and showers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Comes to dress the earth with flowers;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the days are long and bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the moon shines all the night—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the tender corn is springing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the merry thrush is singing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the swallows come and go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On light wings flitting to and fro—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When laughing childhood learns by rote<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cuckoo's oft-repeated note;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the meads are fresh and green,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the hawthorn buds are seen—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When 'neath April's rainbow skies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Violets ope their purple eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When mossy bank and verdant mound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweet knots of primroses have crowned—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the meadows glitter white,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a sheet of silver light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When blue bells gay and cowslips bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweet-scented brier, and golden broom—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Thou wilt think of me, love!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Each bud shall be to thee a token<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a fond heart reft and broken;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the month of joy and gladness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall but fill thy soul with sadness—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">And thou wilt sigh for me, love!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When thou rov'st the woodland bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shalt cull spring's sweetest flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shalt strew with bitter weeping<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lonely bed where I am sleeping—<br /></span> +<span class="i12">And sadly mourn for me, love!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="THE_FOREST_RILL" id="THE_FOREST_RILL"></a>THE</h3> +<h2>FOREST RILL.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Young Naiad of the sparry grot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose azure eyes before me burn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In what sequestered lonely spot<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lies hid thy flower-enwreathed urn?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath what mossy bank enshrined,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Within what ivy-mantled nook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sheltered alike from sun and wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lies hid thy source, sweet murmuring brook?<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Deep buried lies thy airy shell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath thy waters clear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far echoing up the woodland dell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy wind-swept harp I hear.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I catch its soft and mellow tones<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Amid the long grass gliding,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now broken 'gainst the rugged stones,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In hoarse, deep accents chiding.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The wandering breeze that stirs the grove,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In plaintive moans replying,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To every leafy bough above<br /></span> +<span class="i2">His tender tale is sighing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ruffled beneath his viewless wing<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy wavelets fret and wimple,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now forth rejoicingly they spring<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In many a laughing dimple.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To nature's timid lovely queen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy sylvan haunts are known;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She seeks thy rushy margin green<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To weave her flowery zone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Light waving o'er thy fairy flood<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In all their vernal pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sees her crown of opening buds<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Reflected in the tide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On—on!—for ever brightly on!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy lucid waves are flowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy waters sparkle as they run,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their long, long journey going;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright flashing in the noon-tide beam<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er stone and pebble breaking,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And onward to some mightier stream<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their slender tribute taking.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh such is life! a slender rill,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A stream impelled by Time;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To death's dark caverns flowing still,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To seek a brighter clime.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though blackened by the stains of earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And broken be its course,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From life's pure fount we trace its birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Eternity its source!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">While floating down the tide of years,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Christian will not mourn her lot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is a hand will dry her tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A land where sorrows are forgot.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though in the crowded page of time<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The record of her name may die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis traced in annals more sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The volume of Eternity!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TO_WATER_LILIES" id="TO_WATER_LILIES"></a>TO WATER LILIES.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers! with your petals bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye float on the waves like spirits of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wooing the zephyr that ruffles your leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a gentle sigh, like a lover that grieves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When his mistress, blushing, turns away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From his pleading voice and impassioned lay.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers! the sun's westward beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still lingering, plays on the crystal stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ye look like some Naiad's golden shrine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is lighted up with a flame divine;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Or a bark in which love might safely glide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Impelled by the breeze o'er the purple tide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers! how I love to gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On your glorious hues, in the noon-tide blaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to see them reflected far below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the azure waves, as they onward flow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the spirit who moves them sighing turns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where his golden crown on the water burns.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers! in the rosy west<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun has sunk in his crimson vest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the pearly tears of the weeping night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have spangled your petals with gems of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And turned to stars every wandering beam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which the pale moon throws on the silver stream.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers!—yet a little while,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sun on your faded buds shall smile;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And the balm-laden zephyr that o'er you sighed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall scatter your leaves o'er the glassy tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the spirit that moved the stream shall spread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His lucid robe o'er your watery bed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beautiful flowers! our youth is as brief<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the short-lived date of your golden leaf.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The summer will come, and each amber urn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a love-lighted torch, on the waves shall burn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when the first bloom of our life is o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No after spring can its freshness restore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But faith can twine round the hoary head<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A garland of beauty when youth is fled!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AUTUMN" id="AUTUMN"></a>AUTUMN.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Autumn, thy rushing blast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sweeps in wild eddies by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whirling the sear leaves past,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath my feet, to die.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature her requiem sings<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In many a plaintive tone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As to the wind she flings<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sad music, all her own.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The murmur of the rill<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is hoarse and sullen now,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the voice of joy is still<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In grove and leafy bough.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +<span class="i0">There's not a single wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of all Spring's thousand flowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To strew her bier in death,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or deck her faded bowers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I hear a spirit sigh<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where the meeting pines resound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which tells me all must die,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As the leaf dies on the ground.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brightest hopes we cherish,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which own a mortal trust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But bloom awhile to perish<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And moulder in the dust.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweep on, thou rushing wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou art music to mine ear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Awakening in my mind<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A voice I love to hear.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The branches o'er my head<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Send forth a tender moan;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the wail above the dead<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is that sad and solemn tone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Though all things perish here,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The spirit cannot die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It owns a brighter sphere,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A home in yon fair sky.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soul will flee away,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And when the silent clod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enfolds my mouldering clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall live again with God;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where Autumn's chilly blast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall never strip the bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or icy Winter cast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A blight upon the flowers;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +<span class="i0">But Spring, in all her bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For ever flourish there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the children of the tomb<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Forget this world of care.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The children who have passed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Death's tideless ocean o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Hope's blest anchor cast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On that bright eternal shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who sought, through Him who bled<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their erring race to save,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Sun, whose beams shall shed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A light upon the grave!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_REAPERS_SONG" id="THE_REAPERS_SONG"></a>THE REAPERS' SONG.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The harvest is nodding on valley and plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the scythe and the sickle its treasures must yield;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through sunshine and shower we have tended the grain;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Tis ripe to our hand!—to the field—to the field!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If the sun on our labours too warmly should smile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why a horn of good ale shall the long hours beguile.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, a largess! a largess!—kind stranger, we pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We have toiled through the heat of the long summer day!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With his garland of poppies red August is here,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the forest is losing its first tender green;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pale Autumn will reap the last fruits of the year,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Winter's white mantle will cover the scene.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the field!—to the field! whilst the Summer is ours<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We will reap her ripe corn—we will cull her bright flowers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, a largess! a largess! kind stranger, we pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For your sake we have toiled through the long summer day.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ere the first blush of morning is red in the skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere the lark plumes his wing, or the dew drops are dry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the sun walks abroad, must the harvestman rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With stout heart, unwearied, the sickle to ply:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He exults in his strength, when the ale-horn is crown'd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the reapers' glad shouts swell the echoes around.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, a largess! a largess!—kind stranger, we pray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For your sake we have toiled through the long summer day!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WINTER" id="WINTER"></a>WINTER.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Majestic King of storms! around<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy wan and hoary brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A spotless diadem is bound<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of everlasting snow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Time, which dissolves all earthly things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er thee hath vainly waved his wings!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sun, with his refulgent beams,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thaws not thy icy zone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of ten thousand frozen streams,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That sleep around thy throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose crystal barriers may defy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The genial warmth of summer's sky.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What human foot shall dare intrude<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beyond the howling waste,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or view the untrodden solitude,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where thy dark home is placed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In those far realms of death where light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shrieks from thy glance and all is night?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The earth has felt thine iron tread,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The streams have ceased to flow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The leaves beneath thy feet lie dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And keen the north winds blow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature lies in her winding sheet<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of dazzling snow, and blinding sleet.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy voice has chained the troubled deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Within thy mighty hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The restless world of waters sleep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On Greenland's barren strand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy stormy heralds, loud and shrill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have bid the foaming waves lie still.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where lately many a gallant prow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Spurned back the whitening spray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An icy desert glitters now,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beneath the moon's wan ray:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full many a fathom deep below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark imprisoned waters flow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How gloriously above thee gleam<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The planetary train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the pale moon with clearer beam<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Chequers the frost-bound plain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sparkling diadem of night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Circles thy brow with tenfold light.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I love thee not—yet when I raise<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To heaven my wondering eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I feel transported at the blaze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of beauty in the skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And laud the power that, e'en to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath given such pomp and majesty!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I turn and shrink before the blast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That sweeps the leafless tree,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Careering on the tempest past,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy snowy wreath I see;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Spring will come in beauty forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And chase thee to the frozen north!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FANCY_AND_THE_POET" id="FANCY_AND_THE_POET"></a>FANCY AND THE POET.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6"><b>POET.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Enchanting spirit! at thy votive shrine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I lowly bend one simple wreath to twine;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O come from thy ideal world and fling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy airy fingers o'er my rugged string;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweep the dark chords of thought and give to earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wild sweet song that tells thy heavenly birth—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +<span class="i6"><b>FANCY.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Happiness, when from earth she fled,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I passed on her heaven-ward flight,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Take this wreath," the spirit said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"And bathe it in floods of light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the sons of sorrow this token give,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bid them follow my steps and live!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I took the wreath from her radiant hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Each flower was a silver star;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I turned this dark earth to a fairy land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When I hither drove my car;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I wove the wreath round my tresses bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And man only saw its reflected light.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Many a lovely dream I've given,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And many a song divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But never—oh never!—that wreath from heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shall mortal temples twine.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Hope and love in the chaplet glow:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis all too bright for a world of woe!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>POET.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hist—Beautiful spirit! why silent so soon?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My soul drinks each word of thy magical tune;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My lyre owns thy touch, and its tremulous strings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still vibrate beneath the soft play of thy wings!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Resume thy sweet lay, and reveal, ere we part,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy home, lovely spirit,—and say what thou art.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>FANCY.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The gleam of a star which thou canst not see,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or an eye 'neath its sleeping lid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tune of a far off melody,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The voice of a stream that's hid;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such must I still remain to thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wonder and a mystery.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I live in the poet's dream,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I flash on the painter's eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I dwell in the moon's pale beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the depths of the star-lit sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I traverse the earth, the air, the main,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bind young hearts in my golden chain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I float on the crimson cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My voice is in every breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I speak in the tempest loud,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the sigh of the wind-stirred trees;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the sons of earth, in a magic tone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I tell of a world more bright than their own!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="NIGHTS_PHANTASIES" id="NIGHTS_PHANTASIES"></a>NIGHT'S PHANTASIES.</h2> + +<h4>A FRAGMENT.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have dreamed sweet dreams of a summer night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the moon was walking in cloudless light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my soul to the regions of Fancy sprung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While the spirits of air their soft anthems sung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strains wafted down from those heavenly spheres<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which may not be warbled in waking ears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More sweet than the voice of waters flowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than the breeze over beds of violets blowing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When it stirs the pines, and sultry day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fans himself cool with their tremulous play.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the sleeper's ear those rich notes stealing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speak of purer and holier feeling<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than man in his pilgrimage here below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the bondage of sin, can ever know.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I heard in my slumbers the ceaseless roar<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the sparkling waves, as they met the shore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till lulled by the surge of the moon-lit deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the heaving ocean I sank to sleep.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And a magic spell on my spirit was cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And forms that had perished in ages past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were by Fancy revealed to my wondering view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the veil of Oblivion she backward drew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And showed me a glorious vision, dressed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the rosy light of the glowing west.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such colours at parting the day-god throws,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gild his path, as rejoicing he goes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a victor red with the spoils of fight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To raise through darkness the banner of light!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Slowly and soothingly stole on my ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strains such as spirits in ecstasy hear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they tune their harps at the jasper throne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of eternal light, with its rainbow zone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the harmony drawn from those living strings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gushes forth from the fountain whence music springs;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +<span class="i0">But those songs divine, of heavenly birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are seldom repeated to sons of earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such sounds as I heard by that summer sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were never produced by man's minstrelsy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which rose and sank by the billowy motion<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the breaking wave and the heaving ocean:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now borne on the night-breeze was wafted high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the glowing depths of the star-lit sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now mournfully wailing, like plaintive dirge,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rushed to the shore, with the rush of the surge.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">And I saw a figure, all radiantly bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Float over the waves in the pale moonlight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She moved to the notes of a magical song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the billows scarce murmured that bore her along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The winds became mute—and the snowy wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That crested the billows, looked dim beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her silvery feet—that as lightly trod<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The heaving deep, as the emerald sod.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A garland of coral her temples bound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And her glittering robes floated lightly round,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Veiling her form in a shadowy shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the mist that hangs on the morning cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the sun dispels, with his rising beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The vapours exhaled from the marshy stream.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The breeze wafted back from her forehead fair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her long flowing tresses of shining hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which cast on her features a lambent glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a halo encircling her brow of snow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Revealing a face of such faultless mould<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As that sea-born goddess possessed of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The morning she rose from the purple tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The queen of beauty and joy's fair bride—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But her cheek was as pale as the ocean spray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere it catches a flush from the rosy day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the shade of a deathless grief was there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which spake more of ages than years of care;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As though she had borne, since the world began,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every sorrow and trial that waits upon man.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Such was the shadow that haunted my dream;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such was the figure that rose from the stream;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And I felt a strange and electric thrill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of unearthly delight my bosom fill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As she neared the shore, and I heard the strain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That charmed into silence the listening main.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Child of the earth! behold in me<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The desolate spirit of things that were:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I keep Oblivion's iron key,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Far, far below in the pathless sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where never a sound from the upper air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is heard in those realms where, in darkness hurled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie the shattered domes of the ancient world!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A thousand ages have slowly rolled<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O'er temple and tower and fortress strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the giant kings possessed of old,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That buried beneath the waters cold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Only echo the mermaids' plaintive song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When they weep o'er the form of some child of clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Mid the wreck of a world that has passed away.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The spirits of earth and air have sighed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To traverse those halls, in vain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rolling waters those ruins hide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And buried beneath the oozy tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They sleep in my icy chain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if thou canst banish all mortal dread,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou shalt view that world of the mighty dead.—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Far over the breast of the waters wide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That song's plaintive cadence in distance died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I heard but the tremulous, mournful sweep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the night-winds ruffling the azure deep!—<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SONGS_OF_THE_HOURS" id="SONGS_OF_THE_HOURS"></a>SONGS OF THE HOURS.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><b>THE TWILIGHT HOUR.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Slowly I dawn on the sleepless eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a dreaming thought of eternity;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But darkness hangs on my misty vest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the shade of care on the sleeper's breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A light that is felt—but dimly seen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like hope that hangs life and death between;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the weary watcher will sighing say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Lord, I thank thee! 'twill soon be day;"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lingering night of pain is past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Morning breaks in the east at last.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Mortal!—thou mayst see in me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A type of feeble infancy,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dim, uncertain, struggling ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The promise of a future day!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i4"><b>THE MORNING HOUR.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Like a maid on her bridal morn I rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the smile on her lip and the tear in her eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst the breeze my crimson banner unfurls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I wreathe my locks with the purest pearls;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brighter diamonds never were seen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Encircling the neck of an Indian queen!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I traverse the east on my glittering wing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my smiles awake every living thing;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the twilight hour like a pilgrim gray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Follows the night on her weeping way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I raise the veil from the saffron bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the young sun pillows his golden head;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +<span class="i0">He lifts from the ocean his burning eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his glory lights up the earth and sky.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ah, I am like that dewy prime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere youth hath shaken hands with time;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the fresh tide of life has wasted low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And discovered the hidden rocks of woe:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When like the rosy beams of morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Joy and gladness and love were born,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hope divine, of heavenly birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pleasure that lightens the cares of earth!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i4"><b>THE NOONTIDE HOUR.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I come like an Eastern monarch dight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In my crown of beams, in my robe of light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nature droops at my ardent gaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wraps the woods in a purple haze;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From my fiery glance the strong man shrinks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a babe on the bosom of earth he sinks;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Yet cries, as he turns from the glowing ray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"This is a glorious summer day!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Such is manhood's fiery dower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passion's all-consuming power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glorious, beautiful, and bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But too dazzling to the sight!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i4"><b>THE EVENING HOUR.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Like the herald hope of a fairer clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brightest link in the chain of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The youngest and loveliest child of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I mingle and soften each glowing ray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weaving together a tissue bright<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the beams of day and the gems of night.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pitch my tent in the glowing west,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And receive the sun as he sinks to rest;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +<span class="i0">He flings in my lap his ruby crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lays at my feet his glory down;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ere his burning eyelids close,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His farewell glance the day-king throws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Nature's face—till the twilight shrouds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The monarch's brow in a veil of clouds—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh then, by the light of mine own fair star,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I unyoke the steeds from his beamy car.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Away they start from the fiery rein,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With flashing hoofs, and flying mane,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like meteors speeding on the wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They leave a glowing track behind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the dark caverns of the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Receive the heaven-born steeds of light!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">While Nature broods o'er the soft repose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the dewy mead, and the half-shut rose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does not that lovely hour give birth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To thoughts more allied to heaven than earth?<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +<span class="i0">When things that have been in perspective pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the sun's last rays over memory's glass;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When life's cares are forgot, when its joys are our own,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the mild beams of faith round the future are thrown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When all that awakened remorse or regret,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a stormy morn, has in splendour set;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the sorrows of time and the hopes of heaven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blend in the soul like the hues of even,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the spirit looks back on this troubled scene<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a glance as bright as it ne'er had been!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>NIGHT.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I come, like Oblivion, to sweep away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scattered beams from the car of day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The gems which the evening has lavishly strown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Light up the lamps round my ebon throne.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Slowly I float through the realms of space,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Casting my mantle o'er Nature's face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weaving the stars in my raven hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As I sail through the shadowy fields of air.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the wild fancies that thought can bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie hid in the folds of my sable wing:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Terror is mine with his phrensied crew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fear with her cheek of marble hue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sorrow, that shuns the eye of day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pours out to me her plaintive lay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am the type of that awful gloom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which involves the cradle and wraps the tomb;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chilling the soul with its mystical sway;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chasing the day-dreams of beauty away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till man views the banner by me unfurled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the awful veil of the unknown world;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The emblem of all he fears beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The solemn garb of the spoiler death!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +<span class="i4"><b>CHORUS OF HOURS.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Born with the sun, the fair daughters of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We silently lead to a lovelier clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the day is undimmed by the shadows of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But eternally beams from the fountain of light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the sorrows of time and its cares are unknown<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the beautiful forms that encircle the throne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the mighty Creator! the First and the Last!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who the wonderful frame of the universe cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And composed every link of the mystical chain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of minutes, and hours, which are numbered in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the children of dust, in their frantic career,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When their moments are wasted unthinkingly here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lavished on earth which in mercy were given<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That men might prepare for the joys of heaven!—<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LUMINOUS_BOW" id="THE_LUMINOUS_BOW"></a>THE LUMINOUS BOW.</h2> + +<h4>THIS REMARKABLE PHENOMENON WAS WITNESSED BY THE AUTHOR<br /> +ON THE NIGHT OF THE 29th OF SEPTEMBER, 1829.</h4> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vision of beauty! there floats not a cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the blue vault of heaven thy glory to shroud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The star-gemmed horizon thou spannest sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like the path to a better and lovelier clime.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thy light, unreflected by planet or star,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still widens and brightens round night's spangled car;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In radiance resembling the moon's placid beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When she smiles through the soft mist that hangs on the stream.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou sittest enthroned, like the spirit of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the stars through thy zone shed a tremulous light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon is still sleeping beneath the wide sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst wonder is keeping her vigils with me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The bow of the covenant brightens the storm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When its dark wings are shading the brow of the morn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But thou art uncradled by vapour or cloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy glory's unshaded by night's sable shroud.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh whence is thy splendour, fair luminous bow?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From light's golden chalice thy radiance must flow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou look'st from the throne of thy beauty above<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On this desolate earth, like the spirit of love!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_SUGAR_BIRDC" id="THE_SUGAR_BIRDC"></a>THE SUGAR BIRD.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Thou splendid child of southern skies!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy brilliant plumes and graceful form<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are not so precious in mine eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As those gray heralds of the morn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which in my own beloved land<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Welcome the azure car of spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When budding flowers and leaves expand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On hawthorn boughs, and sweetly sing.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But thou art suited to the clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The golden clime, that gave thee birth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where beauty reigns o'er scenes sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fadeless verdure decks the earth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where nature faints beneath the blaze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of her own gorgeous crown of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And exiled eyes, with aching gaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sigh for the softer shades of night,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That memory to their dreams may bring<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Past scenes, to cheer their sleeping eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark green woods where linnets sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And echo wafts the faint reply.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, from those voiceless birds that glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Like living gems 'mid blossoms rare,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The captive turns in sullen woe<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To climes more dear and scenes less fair!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> This elegant bird is a native of Van Dieman's land.</p></div> +</div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DREAM" id="THE_DREAM"></a>THE DREAM.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Methought last night I saw thee lowly laid,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy pallid cheek yet paler, on the bier;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And scattered round thee many a lovely braid<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of flowers, the brightest of the closing year;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst on thy lips the placid smile that played,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Proved thy soul's exit to a happier sphere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In silent eloquence reproaching those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who watched in agony thy last repose.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A pensive, wandering, melancholy light<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The moon's pale radiance on thy features cast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, through the awful stillness of the night,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gleamed like some lovely vision of the past,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Recalling hopes once beautiful and bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now, like that struggling beam, receding fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which o'er the scene a softening glory shed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And kissed the brow of the unconscious dead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yes—it was thou!—and we were doomed to part,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Never in this wide world to meet again.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The blow that levelled thee was in my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thrilled my breast with more than mortal pain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Despair forbade the gathering tears to start;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But soon the gushing torrents fell like rain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er thy pale form, as free and unrepressed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the rash shower that rocks the storm to rest.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For all this goodly earth contained for me,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of bright or beautiful, lay withering there:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What were its gayest scenes bereft of thee—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What were its joys in which thou couldst not share?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While memory recalled each spot, where we<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Had twined together many a garland fair,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Of hope's own wreathing, and the summer hours<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiled not on happier, gayer hearts than ours.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hearts, chilled and silent, as the pensive beam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose shadowy glory resting on the pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Casts on the dead a sad portentous gleam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And serves past hours of rapture to recall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till the soul roused herself with one wild scream,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As shuddering nature felt the powerful call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I awoke in ecstasy to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas but a fleeting phantom of the mind!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_RUIN" id="THE_RUIN"></a>THE RUIN.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I know a cliff, whose steep and craggy brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'erlooks the troubled ocean, and spurns back<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The advancing billow from its rugged base;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet many a goodly rood of land lies deep<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath the wild wave buried, which rolls on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its course exulting o'er the prostrate towers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of high cathedral—church—and abbey fair,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lifting its loud and everlasting voice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over the ruins, which its depths enshroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if it called on Time, to render back<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The things that were, and give to life again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that in dark oblivion sleeps below:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perched on the summit of that lofty cliff<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A time-worn edifice o'erlooks the wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Which greets the fisher's home-returning bark,"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the young seaman checks his blithesome song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hail the lonely ruin from the deep.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Majestic in decay, that roofless pile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Survives the wreck of ages, rising still<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mournful beacon o'er the sea of time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lonely record of departed years:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yes—those who view that ruin feel an awe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sink in the heart, like those who look on death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the first time, and hear within the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A voice of warning whisper,—"Thus, e'en thus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All human glories perish—rent from time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And swallowed up in that unmeasured void,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er which oblivion rolls his sable tide."—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such thoughts as these that moss-grown pile calls forth<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +<span class="i0">To those who gaze upon its shattered walls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, musing, tread its grass-grown aisles, or pause<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To contemplate the wide and barren heath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spreading in rude magnificence around,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With scarce a tree or shrub to intersect<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its gloomy aspect, save the noble ash<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That fronts the ruins, on whose hoary trunk<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hurricanes of years have vainly burst,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mar its beauty;—there sublime it stands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waving its graceful branches o'er the soil<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wraps the mouldering children of the land.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The shadowy splendour of an autumn sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was radiant with the hues of parting day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glorious sun seemed loth to leave the west,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That glowed like molten gold—a saffron sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fretted with crimson billows, whose rich tints<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave to the rugged cliff and barren heath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A ruddy diadem of living light!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hark!—'tis the lonely genius of the place<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sighs through the wind-stirred branches and bewails<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its desolation to the moaning blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That sweeps the ivy on the dark gray walls!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No—'twas a sound of bitter agony<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wrung from the depths of some o'erburdened heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which in life's early morning had received<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sad inheritance of sighs and tears.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Starting, I turned—and seated on the ground<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside the broken altar I beheld<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A female figure, whose fantastic dress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And hair enwreathed with sprigs of ash and yew<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bespoke a mind in ruins. On her brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Despair had stamped his iron seal; her cheek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was pale as moonlight on the misty wave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her hollow eyes were fixed on vacancy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or wildly sent their hurried glances round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With quick impatient gesture, as in quest<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Of some loved object, present to her mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But shut for ever from her longing view.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">The sun went down. She slowly left her seat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cast one long sad look upon the wave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then poured the anguish of her breaking heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a low plaintive strain of melody,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That rose and died away upon the breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mournful requiem of her perished hopes:—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hark! the restless spirits of ocean sigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I can hear them speak as the wind sweeps by.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See, the ivy has heard their mystic call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shivering clings to the broken wall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dark green leaves take a sadder shade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the flowers turn pale and begin to fade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The landscape grows dim in the deepening gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the dead awake in the silent tomb.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +<span class="i0">I have watched the return of my true-love's bark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the sun's uprising till midnight dark;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have watched and wept through the weary day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But his ship on the deep is far away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have gazed for hours on the whitening track<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the pathless waters, and called him back,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But my voice returned on the moaning blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the vessel I sought still glided past.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We parted on just such a lovely night:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The billows were tossing in cloudless light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the full bright moon on the waters slept;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the stars above us their vigils kept,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the surges whispered a lullaby,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As low and as sweet as a lover's sigh—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he promised, as gently he pressed my hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He would soon return to his native land.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But long months have fled, and this burning brain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is seared with weeping and watching in vain.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +<span class="i0">A dark dark shade on my bosom lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nights of sorrow have dimmed these eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The roses have fled from my pallid cheek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the grief that I feel no words can speak;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have made my home with the graves of the dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the cold earth pillows my aching head!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He will come!—he will come!—I know it now;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The waves are dancing before his prow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He comes to speak peace to my aching heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tell me we never again shall part;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I can hear his voice in the freshening breeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As his bark glides o'er the rippling seas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my heart will break forth into laughter and song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I lead him back through the gazing throng.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, no—where yon shade on the water lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The slow-rising moon deceives my eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the tide of sorrow within my breast<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolls on like the billows that never rest;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +<span class="i0">I will look no more on the heaving deep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But return to my lowly bed and weep:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He will come to my dreams in the darksome night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his bark will be here with the dawn of light!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the song ceased, she turned her heavy eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With such a piteous glance upon my face;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It pierced my heart, and fast the gathering tears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blinded my sight. Alas! poor maniac;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thee no hope shall dawn—no tender thought<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wake in thy blighted heart a thrill of joy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The immortal mind is levelled with the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the tenacious cords of life give way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hers was a common tale—she early owned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The ardent love that youthful spirits feel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gave her soul in blind idolatry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To one dear object; and his ship was lost<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In sight of port—lost on the very morn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That should have smiled upon their bridal rite.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +<span class="i0">She saw the dreadful accident like one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who saw it not; and from that fatal hour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All memory of it faded from her mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And still she watches for the distant sail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of him, who never, never can return!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Poor stricken maid! thy best affections,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy hopes, thy wishes centred all in earth—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth has repaid thee with a broken heart!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love to thy God had known no rash excess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For in his service there is joy and peace;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A light, which on thy troubled mind had shed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its holy influence, and those tearful eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had then been raised in gratitude to heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor chased delusive phantoms o'er the deep!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WINTER_LEGIONS" id="WINTER_LEGIONS"></a>WINTER</h2> + +<h3>CALLING UP HIS LEGIONS.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6"><b>WINTER.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Awake—arise! all my stormy powers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The earth, the fair earth, again is ours!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At my stern approach, pale Autumn flings down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the dust her broken and faded crown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At my glance the terrified mourner flies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the earth is filled with her doleful cries.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Awake!—for the season of flowers is o'er,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My white banner unfurl on each northern shore!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Ye have slumbered long in my icy chain—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ye are free to travel the land and main.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spirits of frost! quit your mountains of snow—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will ye longer suffer the streams to flow?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Up, up, and away from your rocky caves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And herald me over the pathless waves!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">He ceased, and rose from his craggy throne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And girt around him his icy zone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And his meteor-eye grew wildly bright<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As he threw his glance o'er those realms of night.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He sent forth his voice with a mighty sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the snows of ages were scattered around;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the hollow murmurs that shook the sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Told to the monarch, his band was nigh.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>THE WIND FROST.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I come o'er the hills of the frozen North,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To call to the battle thy armies forth:<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +<span class="i0">I have swept the shores of the Baltic sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the billows have felt my mastery;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They resisted my power, but strove in vain—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have curbed their might with my crystal chain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I roused the northwind in his stormy cave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Together we passed over land and wave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I sharpened his breath and gave him power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To crush and destroy every herb and flower;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He obeyed my voice, and is rending now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sallow leaves from the groaning bough;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he shouts aloud in his wild disdain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As he whirls them down to the frozen plain:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those beautiful leaves to which Spring gave birth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are scattered abroad on the face of the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have visited many a creek and bay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And curdled the streams in my stormy way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have chilled into hail the genial shower:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All this I have done to increase thy power.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +<span class="i6"><b>THE RIME FROST.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I stood by the stream in the deep midnight.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon through the fog shed a misty light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I arrested the vapours that floated by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wove them in garlands and hung them on high;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I bound the trees in a feathery zone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And turned the soft dews of heaven to stone;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I spangled with gems every leaf and spray,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As onward I passed on my noiseless way;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I came to thee when my work was done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To see how they shone in the morning sun!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>THE NORTH WIND.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I have borne the clouds on my restless wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And my sullen voice through the desert rings;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I sent through the forest a rushing blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the foliage fled as I onward passed<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +<span class="i0">From the desolate regions of woe and death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In adamant bound by my freezing breath:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the crystal mountains where silence reigns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And nature sleeps on the sterile plains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have brought the snow from thy mighty store<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To whiten and cover each northern shore.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>THE EAST WIND.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I woke like a giant refreshed with sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And lifted the waves of the troubled deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I clouded the heavens with vapours dark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rolled the tide o'er the foundering bark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then mocked in hoarse murmurs the hollow cry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the drowning wretch in his agony:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have leagued with the North to assert thy right<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the land and the wave both by day and by night!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +<span class="i6"><b>THE SNOW.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I heard thy summons and hastened fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And floated hither before the blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To wave thy white banner o'er tower and town,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the level plain and the mountain brown.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have crowned the woods with a spotless wreath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And loaded the avalanche with death;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have wrapped the earth in a winding sheet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Nature lies dead beneath my feet.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i6"><b>CHORUS OF SPIRITS.</b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">All hail, mighty monarch! our tasks are o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy power is confessed on each northern shore;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the rock's stern brow to the rolling sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spirits of earth have bowed to thee.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the cradle of Nature the young Spring lies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the slumber of death on her azure eyes;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And we wander at will through the wide domain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which in beauty and verdure shall flourish again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When she bursts from her shroud like a sun-beam forth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'To chase us back to the frozen North!'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">With darkness and storms for thy panoply,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stern Winter, what power may contend with thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy sceptre commands both the wind and the tide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thy empire extends over regions wide;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With thy star-gemmed crown and eagle wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The strongest of nature's potent kings!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But thy power for a season alone is lent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art but a ministering spirit sent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the mighty Creator of thine and thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who fills with his presence immensity!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THERES_JOY_c" id="THERES_JOY_c"></a>THERE'S JOY, &c.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy when the rosy morning floods<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The purple east with light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the zephyr sweeps from a thousand buds<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The pearly tears of night.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy when the lark exulting springs<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To pour his matin lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the blossomed thorn when the blackbird sings,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the merry month is May.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy abroad when the wintry snow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Melts as it ne'er had been,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When cowslips bud and violets blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And leaves are fresh and green.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy in the swallow's airy flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the cuckoo's blithesome cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the floating clouds reflect the light<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of evening's glowing sky.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy in April's balmy showers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Mid gleam of sunshine shed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When May calls forth a thousand flowers<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To deck the earth's green bed.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy when the harvest moon comes out<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With all her starry train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the woods return the reaper's shout<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And echo shouts again.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy in childhood's merry voice<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When the laugh rings blithe and clear;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the sounds that bid young hearts rejoice<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are music to the ear.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy in the dreams of early youth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere care has cast a shade<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er scenes which, though drest in the guise of truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our reason dooms to fade.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy in the youthful lover's breast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When his bride by the altar stands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When his trembling lip to hers is pressed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the priest has joined their hands.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy in the smiling mother's heart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When she clasps her first-born son,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the holy tears of rapture start<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To bless the lovely one.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy when the war-worn soldier hears<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The notes that breathe of peace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That dry the anxious matron's tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And bid stern slaughter cease.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy when he treads the village green<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And views his father's cot;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The horrors of the battle-scene<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Are in that hour forgot.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy in the shipwrecked seaman's heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who has clung all night to the shrouds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the morning breeze rives the rack apart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the sun breaks through the clouds.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's joy when he nears his native land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the tedious voyage is o'er,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he feels the grasp of the kindred hand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He thought to enfold no more.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There's joy above, around, beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But tis a fleeting ray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world's stern strife, the hand of death,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bid mortal hopes decay.<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +<span class="i0">But there's a better joy than earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With all her charms, can give,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which marks the Christian's second birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When man but dies to live!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LOVE" id="LOVE"></a>LOVE.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh Love! how fondly, tenderly enshrined<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In human hearts, how with our being twined!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immortal principle, in mercy given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The brightest mirror of the joys of heaven.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Child of Eternity's unclouded clime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Too fair for earth, too infinite for time:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A seraph watching o'er Death's sullen shroud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sunbeam streaming through a stormy cloud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An angel hovering o'er the paths of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sought in vain amidst its cares and strife;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Claimed by the many—known but to the few<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who keep thy great Original in view;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who, void of passion's dross, behold in thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A glorious attribute of Deity!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MORNING_HYMN" id="MORNING_HYMN"></a>MORNING HYMN.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O'er Time's mighty billows borne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Angels lead the purple morn;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chasing far the shades of night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the burning throne of light:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where their glorious wings unfold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There the east is streaked with gold;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gilding with celestial dyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The azure curtain of the skies.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High in air their matin song<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Floats the ethereal fields along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere creation wakes they sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to the eternal King!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Till silent woods and sleeping plains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo far, Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Rising from the arms of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature hails the birth of light;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiling sweetly through her tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">High her verdant crown she rears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At her call the sunny hours<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wreathe her humid locks with flowers;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bright with many a lucid gem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shines her spotless diadem:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every grove hath found a voice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Countless tribes in Thee rejoice!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In melody untaught they sing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to the eternal King!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Earth and heaven respond their strains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of all, Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">On man's sin-bound soul and eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alone the shade of darkness lies:<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +<span class="i0">The last of nature's children he,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To laud the eternal Deity!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The last his sullen voice to raise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Lord of life and light to praise—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Slumberer, wake!—arise! arise!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join the chorus of the skies!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dost thou sleep? to whom is given<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The privilege of sons of heaven?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wake with angel choirs to sing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to the Almighty King,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who life within himself retains—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of all, Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Rising o'er the tide of years,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lo, a morn more blessed appears:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When yon burning orb of fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And moon, and stars, and heavens expire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all that once had life and breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Emerging from the arms of death,<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Shall animate the heaving sod,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And countless millions meet their God!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose hand the links of time shall sever,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And man shall wake—to live for ever!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When souls redeemed with angels sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to the eternal king!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vanquished death is led in chains—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of life, Jehovah, reigns!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EVENING_HYMN" id="EVENING_HYMN"></a>EVENING HYMN.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sinking now in floods of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun resigns the world to night;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When a lingering glance he turns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The glowing west with glory burns,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the blushing heavens awhile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Long retain his parting smile.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere gray evening's sullen eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bids those tints of beauty die;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere her tears have washed away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The footsteps of departing day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature from her verdant bowers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her last long strain of rapture pours;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Shrouded in her misty vest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sings a drowsy world to rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tells to man, in thrilling strains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the Lord Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Lingering twilight dies away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Night resumes her ancient sway,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round her sable tresses twining<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Countless hosts of stars are shining;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Weaving round the brow of night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A coronet of living light:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the couch of nature bending,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their beauteous glances downward sending,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A silent watch of glory keeping,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guard the earth whilst life is sleeping.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strains unheard by mortal ears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo through the starry spheres;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Other worlds awake to sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to the eternal King!<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Till azure fields and liquid plains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo far, Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Creation sleeps—but many a sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of melody is floating round—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the moon-lit sea is flinging<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its snowy foam and upward springing<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To meet the shore advancing nigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pours, in many a broken sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mournful dirge o'er those who rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forgotten in its stormy breast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Restless ocean, onward rave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He who trod the boisterous wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall to life those forms restore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy tides have rolled for ages o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those sleepers from thy depths shall spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To meet in air their mighty King,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst shrinking seas repeat their strains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lord of all, Jehovah, reigns!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">This is night;—her mantle gray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She flings across the brow of day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hide from mortal ken awhile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The splendour of his kingly smile.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But what magic beauties lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In her dark and shadowy eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the moon with glory crowned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Checkers o'er the distant ground;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bathing now in floods of light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now retreating from the sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As the heavy vapoury cloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flings athwart its sable shroud;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Onward as her course is steering,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now through broken cliffs appearing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She shows the brightness of her form<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And laughs exulting at the storm;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whilst misty hills and moon-lit plains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echo far, Jehovah reigns!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Night,—thy end is hastening fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternal day will dawn at last;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Sun of righteousness shall rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Triumphant through his native skies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And men redeemed from dust shall spring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hail the advent of their King;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till heaven's wide arch repeats their strains,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Christ, our own Immanuel, reigns!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center">THE END.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<p class="center"><small>BUNGAY: PRINTED BY J. R. AND C. CHILDS.</small></p> + + + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> + +<p>Spelling, hyphenation, punctuation, and indentation inconsistencies +have been retained from the original book. Minor changes were made to +the Table of Contents to match the poem titles. +</p> + +<p>The following typos have been corrected:</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_19">19</a>: An changed to And:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(An Alexander's victories, compared).</span><br /><br /> + +Page <a href="#Page_30">30</a>: ceas changed to cease:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Lost in immensity, would ceas to feel!).</span><br /><br /> + +Page <a href="#Page_125">125</a>: apostrophe added before Tis:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">("Tis Mary Hume!"—his comrade said—).</span><br /><br /> +</p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Enthusiasm and Other Poems, by Susanna Moodie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENTHUSIASM AND OTHER POEMS *** + +***** This file should be named 26611-h.htm or 26611-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/1/26611/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig, Diane Monico, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Canadian Institute for +Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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