aass__:££.501 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS, 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER POEMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN WILSON, ESQ. 
 
 Of Mag. Coll. Oxford. '. 
 
 Where lies ike Iftnd to which yon ship must go? 
 Festively she puts forth in trim array ^ 
 And vigorov as a lark at break of day, — 
 — Zs she for summer suns or polar snow? 
 
 NEW.YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JAMES EASTBURN, AND FOR SALF 
 
 AT THE LATE E. SARGEANT'S STORE, 
 
 OPPOSITE TRINITY CDs iiCH» 
 
 1812. 
 
TJX ssz' 
 
 Irtitnl 1.T n & O. r.KVCE. Sl.iU-lsr.o. 
 
i 
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE JARDINE, Esq. 
 
 i 
 
 Professor of Logic, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 ^ JOHN YOUNG, Esq. 
 
 Professor of the Greek language, in the university 
 of Glasgow, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
 INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS. Pag«. 
 
 Canto T • 9 
 
 Canto IL • ••• 37 
 
 Canto in. ^ 64 
 
 Canto IV ••• 103 
 
 Angler's Tent 137 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 Hermitage • • 171 
 
 Lines on Reading the Memoirs of Miss Smith • • 1 BO 
 
 Hymn to Spring • • • • - -•'• • • • • • 190 
 
 Melrose Abbey ...•• - 199 
 
 Extract from the " Hearth" 205 
 
 The French Exile • . 209 
 
 The Three Seasons of Love •> . • • . 216 
 
 To a Sleeping Child 218 
 
 My Cottage ..226 
 
 Lines written on the Banks of Windermere/after 
 
 Recovery from a dangerous Illness •...•. 237 
 Apology for the little Naval Temple on Storrs' 
 
 Point, Windermere - 243 
 
 Picture of a Blind Man 247 
 
 Troutbeck Chapel » 252 
 
 Peace and Innocence ••. » •••• 256 
 
 Loughrig Tarn ...^...^» 259 
 
 Mary ». .•.»• » 265 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Lines written at a little Well by the Roadside, 
 
 Langdale 269 
 
 Lines written on seeing a Picture by Berghera, 
 
 of an Ass in a Storm-Shower 274 
 
 On Reading Mr. Clarkson's History of the Aboli- 
 tion of the Slave Trade 279 
 
 The Fallen Oak 283 
 
 Nature Outraged 286 
 
 Lines written by Moonlight at Sea • • • 295 
 
 The Nameless Stream 297 
 
 Art and Nature 301 
 
 Sonnet I. — Written on tlie Banks of Wastwater, 
 
 during a Storm SOS 
 
 Sonnet II. — Written on the Banks of Wastwater, 
 
 during a Calm • 304 
 
 Sonnet III. —Written at Midnight, on Helm- 
 Crag SOS 
 
 Sonnet IV. — The voice of the Mountains • • • • 306 
 
 Sonnet V.— The Evening-Cloud 307 
 
 Sonnet VI. — Written on the Sabbath-Day • • • • 808 
 Sonnet VII. — Written on Skiddaw, during a Tem- 
 pest 309 
 
 Sonnet VIIL Sl<> 
 
 Sonnet IX. — Written on the Evening I heard of 
 
 the Death of my Friend, William Dif)lop> • 311 
 Lines sacred to the Memory of Thp Rev. James 
 Grahame, Author of " The Sabbath,"&c. . . HZ 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS. 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS. 
 
 CANTO FIRST. 
 
 It is the midnight hour :— the beauteous Sea, 
 
 Calm as the cloudless heaven, the heaven discloses 
 
 While many a sparkling star, in quiet glee, 
 
 Far down vpithin the watery sky reposes. 
 
 As if the Ocean's heart were stirr'd 
 
 With inward life, a sound is heard, 
 
 Like that of dreamer murmuring in his sleep ; 
 
 *Tis partly the billow, and partly the air, 
 
 That lies like a garment floating fair 
 
 Above the happy Deep. 
 
 The sea, I ween, cannot be fann'd 
 
 By evening freshness from the land, 
 
 For the land it is far away ; 
 
 But God hath will'd that the sky-born breeze 
 
 In the centie of the loneliest seas 
 
 Should ever sport and play. 
 
 The mighty Moon she sits above, 
 
 Encircled with a zone of love, 
 B 
 
10 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CautO 1. 
 
 A. zone of dim and tender light 
 
 Tiiat makes her wakeful eye more bright : 
 
 She seems to shine with a sunny ray, 
 
 And the night looks like a mellow'd day! 
 
 The gracious Mistress of the Main 
 
 Hath now an undisturbed reign, • 
 
 And from her silent throne looks down, 
 
 As upon children of her own, 
 
 On the waves that lend their gentle breast 
 
 In gladness for her couch of rest ! 
 
 My spirit sleeps amid the calm 
 The sleep of anew delight; 
 And hopes that she ne'er may awake again. 
 But for ever hang o'er the lovely main, 
 And adore the lovely night. 
 Scarce conscious of an earthly frame, 
 She glides away like a lambent tlame. 
 And in her bliss she sings ; 
 Now touching softly the Ocean's breast, 
 Now mid the stars she lies at rest. 
 As if she sail'd on wings ! 
 Now bold as the brightest star that glows 
 More brightly since at first it rose. 
 Looks down on the far-off flood, 
 And there all breathless and alone, 
 
I 
 Canto I. The isle op palms. 11 
 
 As the sky where she soars were a world of her own, 
 
 She raocketh the gentle Mighty One 
 
 As he lies in his quiet mood. 
 
 " Art thou," she breathes, " the Tyrant grim 
 
 That scoffs at human prayers. 
 
 Answering with prouder roaring the while, ' 
 
 As it rises from some lonely isle. 
 
 Through groans raised wild, ihe hopeless hymn 
 
 Ofshipwrerk'd mariners? 
 
 Oh! Thou art harmless as a child 
 
 Weary with joy, and reconciled 
 
 For sleep to change its play ; 
 
 And now that night hath stay'd thy race? 
 
 Smiles wander o'er thy placid face 
 
 As if thy dreams were gay." — 
 
 And can it be that for me alone 
 The Main and Heavens are spread ? 
 Ob ! whither, in this holy hour, 
 Have those fair creatures fled, 
 To whom the ocean-plains are given 
 As clouds possess their native heaven? 
 The tiniest boat, that ever sail'd 
 Upon an inland lake, 
 Might through this sea without a fear 
 Her silent journey take, 
 
12 fHE ISLE OP PALMS. Catito V 
 
 Thou&[h the helmsman slept as if on land, 
 
 And the oar had dropp'd from the rower's hand. 
 
 How Hke a monarch wonld she glide, 
 
 While the huslit billow kiss'd her side 
 
 With low and lulling tone, 
 
 Some stately Ship, that from afar • 
 
 Shone sudden, like a rising star, 
 
 With all her bravery on ! 
 
 List: how in murmurs of delight 
 
 The blessed airs of Heaven invite 
 
 The joyous bark to pass one night 
 
 Within their still domain ! 
 
 O grief! that yonder gentle Moon, 
 
 Whose smiles for ever fade so soon, 
 
 Should waste such smiles in vain. 
 
 Haste! haste! before the moonshine dies, 
 
 Dissolved amid the niorning skies, 
 
 Willie yet the silvery glory lies 
 
 Above the sparkling foam j 
 
 Bright mid surrounduig brightness, Thou, 
 
 Scattering fresh beauty from thy prow, 
 
 Id pomp and splendour come I 
 
 And lo ! upon the murmuring waves 
 A glorious Shape appearing ! 
 A broad-wing'd Vessel, through the shower 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLE OF PALM6. IS 
 
 Of glimmering lustre steering! 
 
 As. if the beauteous sliip enjoy'd 
 
 The beauty of the sea, 
 
 She lifteth up her stately head 
 
 And saileth joyfully. 
 
 A lovely path before her lies, 
 
 A lovely path behind ; 
 
 She sails amid the loveliness 
 
 Like a thing with heart and mind. 
 
 Fit pilgrim through a scene so fair, 
 
 Slowly she beareth on; 
 
 A glorious phantom of the deep, 
 
 Risen up to meet the Moon. 
 
 The Moon bids her tenderest radiance fall 
 
 On her wavy streamer and snow-white wings, 
 
 And the quiet voice of the rocking sea 
 
 To cheer the gliding vision sings. 
 
 Oh ! ne'er did sky and water blend 
 
 In such a holy sleep, 
 
 Or bathe in brigliter quietude 
 
 A roamer of the deep. 
 
 So far the peaceful soul of Heaven 
 
 Hath settled on the sea, 
 
 It seems as if this weight of calm 
 
 Were from eternity. 
 
 O World of Waters ! the stedfast earth 
 
 Ne'er lay entranced like Thee I 
 
14 THE ISLE OF PALNts. Canto I. 
 
 Is she a vision wild and bright, 
 That sails amid the still moon-light 
 At the dreaming soul's command? 
 A vessel borife by magic gales. 
 All rigg'd with gossamery sails, , 
 
 And bound for Fairj--land ? 
 Ah ! no ! — an earthly freight she bears^ 
 Of joys and sorrows, hopes and fears; 
 And lonely as she seems to be. 
 Thus left by herself on the moonlight »«© 
 In loneliness that rolls, 
 She hath a constant company. 
 In sleep, or waking reveli'y, 
 Five hundred human souls ! 
 Since first she sail'd from fair England^ 
 Three moons her path have cheer'd ; 
 And another stands right over her masts 
 Since the Cape hath disappear'd. 
 For an Indian Isle she shapes her way 
 With constant mind both night and day ; 
 She seems to hold her home in view, 
 And sails, as if the path she knew; 
 So calm and stately is her motion 
 Across th' unfathom*d trackless ocean* 
 
Canto 1. TH£ ISLE OF PALMS. IS 
 
 And well, glad vessel ! mayst thou stem 
 The tide with lofty breast, 
 And lift thy queen like diadera 
 O'er these thy realms of rest : 
 For a thousand beings, now far away^ 
 Behold thee in their sleep, 
 And hush their beating hearts to pray 
 That a calm may clothe the deep. 
 When dimly descending behind the sea 
 From the Mountain Isle of Liberty, 
 Oh ! many a sigh pursued thy vanish'd sail | 
 And oft an eager crowd will stand 
 With straining gaze on the Indian strand, 
 Thy wonted gleam to hail. 
 For thou art laden with Beauty and Youth, 
 With Honour bold, and spotless Truth, 
 Withfaihers, who have left in a home of rest 
 Their mfants smiling at the breast, 
 With children, who have bade their parents farewell j 
 Or who go to the land where their parents dwell. 
 God speed thy course, thou gleam of delight ! 
 From rock and tempest clear ; 
 Till signal gun from friendly height 
 Proclaim, with thundering cheer, 
 To joyful groupes on the harbour brighti 
 That the good ship Hops is near! 
 
1( tRE ISLE OP PALM$>. CantO 1« 
 
 Is no one on the silent deck 
 Save the helmsman who sings for a breeze, 
 And the sailors who pace their midnight watch. 
 Still as the slumbering seas ? 
 Yes ! side by side, and hand in hand, 
 Close to the prow two figures stand, 
 Their shadows never stir, 
 And fondly as the Moon doth rest 
 Upon the Ocean's gentle breast, 
 So fond they look on her. 
 They gaze and gaze till the beauteous orb 
 Seems made for them alone : 
 They feel as if their home were Heaven, 
 And the earth a dream that hath flown. 
 Softly they lean on each other's breast, 
 In holy bliss reposing. 
 Like two fair clouds to the vernal air 
 In folds of beauty closing. 
 The tear down their glad faces rolls, 
 And a silent prayer is in their souls, 
 While the voice of awaken'd memory, 
 Like a low and plaintive melody, 
 Sings in their hearts,— ^a mystic voice, 
 That bids them tremble and rejoice. 
 And Faith, who oft had lost her power 
 In the darkness of the midnight hour 
 
Canto I. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 17 
 
 When the planets had roU'd afar, 
 Now stirs in their soul with a joyful strife, 
 Enibned with a genial spirit of life 
 By the Moon and the Morning-Star. 
 
 A lovelier vision in the moonlight stands, 
 Than Bard e*er woo'd in fairy lands. 
 Or Faith with tranced eye adored. 
 Floating around our dying Lord. 
 Her silent face is saintly-pale, 
 And sadness shades it like a veil : 
 A consecrated nun she seems. 
 Whose waking thoughts are deep as dreams, 
 And in her hush'd and dim abode 
 Forever dwell upon her God, 
 Though the still fouut of tears and sighs 
 And human tensibihties ! 
 Well may the Moon delight to shed 
 Her softest radiance round that head, 
 And mellow the coo! ocean-air 
 That lifts by fits her sable hair. 
 These mild and melancholy eyes 
 Are dear unto the starry skies, 
 As the dim effusion of thrir rays 
 Blends with the gliminermg light that plays 
 B2 
 
is THE ISLE OP PALMS, CatttO 1. 
 
 O'er the blue heavens, and snowy clouds, 
 The olondlike sails, and radiant shrouds. 
 iFair creature ! Thou dost seem to be 
 Some wandering spirit of the sea, 
 That dearly loves the gleam of sails. 
 And o'er them breathes propitious gales^ 
 Hither thou comest, for one wild hour, 
 With him thy sinless paramour, 
 To gaze, while the Avearied sailors sleep, 
 On this beautiful phantom of the deep, 
 That seem'd to rise with the rising Moon. 
 —But the Queen of Night will be sinking soon, 
 Then will you, like two breaking waves, 
 Sink softly to your coral caves. 
 Or, noiseless as the falling dew, 
 Melt into Heaven's delicious blue. 
 
 Nay ! wrong her not, that Virgin bright * 
 Her face is bathed in lovelier light 
 Than ever flow'd from eyes 
 Of Ocean Nymph, or Sylph of Air! 
 The tearful gleam, that trembles there, 
 From human dreatns must rise. 
 Let the Mermaid rest in her sparry cell, 
 Her seas^reen ringlets braiding ! 
 The Sylph in viewless ether dwell. 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLE OF PALMft. 19 
 
 In clouds her beauty shading ! 
 
 My soul devotes her music wild 
 
 To one who is an earthly child, 
 
 But who, wandering through the midnight hour, 
 
 Far from the shade of earthly bower, 
 
 Bestows a tender loveliness, 
 
 A deeper, holier quietness, 
 
 On the moonlight Heaven, and Ocean hoar, 
 
 So quiet and so fair before. 
 
 Yet why does a helpless maiden roam. 
 
 Mid stranger soul,?, and far from home. 
 
 Across the faithless deep ? 
 
 Oh ! fitter far that her gentle mind 
 
 In some sweet inland vale should iiud 
 
 An undisturbed sleep ! 
 
 So was it once. Her childish years 
 Like clouds pass'd o'er her head, 
 "When life is all one rosy smile, or tears 
 Of natural grief, forgotten soon as shed. 
 O'er her own mountains, like a bird 
 Glad wandering from its nest, 
 When the glossy hues of the sunny spring 
 Are dancing ^n its breast, 
 With a winged glide this maiden would rove, 
 An innoccBt phantODA of beauty and love. 
 
20 TRK ISX.E OP PALMS. CmtO 1. 
 
 Far from the haunts of men she grew 
 
 By the side of a lonesome tower. 
 
 Like some solitary mountain-flower, 
 
 Whose veil of wiry dew 
 
 Is only tonch'd by the gales that breathe 
 
 O'er the blossoms of the fragrant heath. 
 
 And in its iiilence melts away 
 
 With those sweet things too pure for earthly day. 
 
 Blest was the lore that Nature taught 
 
 The infant's happy mind, 
 
 Even when each light and happy thought 
 
 Pass'd onward's like the wind. 
 
 Nor longer seem'd to linger there 
 
 Thau the whispering sound in her raven-hair. 
 
 Well was she known to each mountain*streamj, 
 
 As its own voice, or the fond moon-beam 
 
 That o'er its music play'd : 
 
 The loneliest caves her footsteps heard, 
 
 In lake and tarn oft nightly stirr'd 
 
 The Maiden's ghost-like shade. 
 
 But she hath bidden a last farewell 
 
 To lake and mountain, stream and del); 
 
 And fresii have blown the gales 
 
 For many a mournful night and day, 
 
 Wafting the tall Ship far away 
 
 From her dear native Wales. 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLB OF PALMS. 21 
 
 And must these eyes, — so soft and mild, 
 As angel's bright, as fairy's wild, 
 Swimming in Instrous dew, 
 Now sparkling lively, gay, and glad, 
 And now their spirit melting sad 
 In smiles of gentlest blue, — 
 Oh ! must these eyes be steep'd in tears, 
 Bedinim'd with dreams of future years. 
 Of what may yet betide 
 An Orphan-Maid ! — for in the night 
 She oft hath started with affright, 
 To find herself a bride j 
 A bride oppress'd with fear and shame. 
 And bearing not Fitz-O wen's name. 
 This fearful dream oft haunts her bed, 
 For she hath heard of maidens sold. 
 In the innocence of thoughtless youth, 
 To Guilt and Age for gold ; 
 Of English maids who pined away 
 Beyond the Eastern Main, 
 Who smiled, when first they trod that shore, 
 But never smiled again. 
 In dreams is she the wretched Maid, 
 An Orphan, — helpless, — sold, — betray'd,— - 
 And, when the dream hath fled, 
 In waking thought she still retaim^ 
 
20 THE I9tE OF PALMS. CatltO U 
 
 The memory of these-wildering pains, 
 In strange mysterious dread. 
 
 Yet oft will happier dreams arise 
 Before her charmed view, 
 And the powerful beauty of the skies 
 Makes her believe them true. 
 For who, when nought is heard around, 
 But the great Ocean's solemn sound. 
 Feels not as if the Eternal God 
 Were speaking in that dread abode ? 
 An answering voice seems kindly given 
 From the multitude of stars in Heaven : 
 And oft a smile of moonlight fair, 
 To perfect peace hath changed despair. 
 Low as we are, we blend our fate 
 With things so beautifully great. 
 And though opprest with heaviest grief, 
 From Nature's bliss we draw relief, 
 Assured that God's most gracious eye 
 Beholds us in our misery, 
 And sends mild sound and lovely sight, 
 To change that misery to delight.— 
 Such is thy faith, O sainted Maid! 
 Pensive and pale, but not afraid 
 Of Ocean or of JJky, 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 23 
 
 Though thou ne'er mayst see the land again^ 
 
 And though awful be the lonely Main, 
 
 No fears hast thou to die. 
 
 Whate'er betide of weal or wo, 
 
 When the waves are asleep, or the tempests blow, 
 
 Thou wilt bear with calm devotion ; 
 
 For duly every night and morn, 
 
 Sweeter than Mermaid's strains are borne 
 
 Thy hymns along the Ocean. 
 
 I And who is He, that fondly presses 
 Close to his heart the silken tresses 
 That hide her soften'd eyes, 
 Whose heart her heaving bosom meets, 
 And through the midnight silence beats 
 To feel her rising sighs i 
 Worthy the Youth, I vveen, to rest 
 On the fair swellings of her breast, 
 Worthy to hush her inmost fears, 
 And kiss away her struggling tears : 
 For never grovelling spirit stole 
 A woman's impolluted soul ! 
 To her the vestal fire is given ; 
 And only fire drawn pure from Heaven 
 Can on Love's holy shrine descend, 
 And there in clouds of fragrance blend. 
 
24 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CanUl. 
 
 K 
 
 Well do I know that stately Youth ! 
 
 TJie broad day-light of cloudless truth 
 
 Like a sun-beam bathes his face; 
 
 Though silent, still a gracious smile, 
 
 That rests upon his eyes the while, 
 
 Bestows a speaking grace. 
 
 That smile hath might of magic art, 
 
 To sway at will the stoniest heart, 
 
 As a ship obeys the gale ; 
 
 And when his silver voice is heard, 
 
 The coldest blood is warmly stirr'd. 
 
 As at some glorious tale. 
 
 The 1 ,/tiest spirit never saw 
 
 This Youth without a sudddo awe ; 
 
 But vain the transient feeling strove 
 
 Against the stealing power of love. 
 
 Soon as they felt the tremor cease. 
 
 He seem'd the very heart of peace. 
 
 Majestic to the bold and high, 
 
 Yet calm and beauteous to a woman's eye ! 
 
 To him, a mountain Youth, was known 
 The wailing tempest's dreariest tone. 
 He knew the shriek of wizard c^ves. 
 And the trampling fierce of howiiiig waves. 
 The mystic voic« of the lonely uight 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 35 
 
 He had often drunk with a strange delight, 
 And look'd on the clouds as they roli'd on high, 
 Till with them he sail'd on the sailing sky. 
 And thus hath helearn'd to wake the lyre, 
 With something of- a bardlike fire; 
 Can tell in high empassion'd song, 
 Of worlds that to the Bard belong, 
 And, till they feel his kindling breath, 
 To others still and dark as death. 
 Yet oft, I ween, in gentler mood 
 A human kindness hush'd his blood. 
 And sweetly blended earth-born sighs 
 With the Bard's romantic extacies. 
 The living world was dear to him, 
 And in his waking hours more bright it see^a, 
 More touching far, than wlien his fancy dream'd 
 Of heavenly bowers, th' abode of Seraphim : 
 And gladly from her wild sojourn 
 Mid haunts dim-shadow'd in the realms of mind, 
 Even like a wearied dove that flies for rest^ 
 Back o'er long fields of air unto her nest, 
 His longingspirit homewards would return 
 To meet once more tlie smile of human kind. 
 And when at last a human soul he found. 
 Pure as the thought of purity^ — more mild- 
 Thau in its slumber seems a dreaming child ; 
 
26 THE ISIE OE FALMS. Cauto 1. 
 
 Wlien on his spirit stole the mystic sound, 
 The voice, whose mnsic sad no mortal ear 
 But his can rightly nnderstand and hear, 
 When a subduing smile hke moonlight shone 
 On him for ever, and for hira alone, 
 * Why should he seek this lower world to leave I 
 F<)r, whether now he love to joy or grieve, 
 A friend he hath for sorrow or delight. 
 Who lends fresh beauty to the morning light, 
 The tender stars in tenderer dimness shroudSp 
 And glorifies the Moon among her clouds. 
 
 How would he gaze with reverent eye 
 Upon that meek and pensive maid, 
 Then fik iiis looks upon the sky 
 With moving lips as if he pray'd ! 
 Unto his sight bedinim'd with tears, 
 How beautiful the saint appears,— 
 Oil ! all nnlikc a creature form'd of clay. 
 The blessed angels with delight • 
 Might hail her " Sister!" She is bright 
 And innocent as they. 
 Scarce dared he then that form to love ! 
 A solemn impulse from above 
 All earthly hopes forbade, 
 Aud with a pure and holy flamei 
 
t 
 
 Canto 1. THE ISLE OF PAtW9. ST 
 
 As if in truth from Heaven she came. 
 
 He gazed upon the maid. 
 
 His beating heart, thns fill'd with awe. 
 
 In her the guardian spirit saw 
 
 Of all his future years ; 
 
 And, when he listened to her breath 
 
 So spiritual, nor pain nor death 
 
 Seem'd longer worth his fears. 
 
 She loved him ? She, the Child of Heaven I 
 
 And God would surely make 
 
 The soul to whom that love was given 
 
 More perfect for her sake. 
 
 Each look, each word, of one so good 
 
 Devoutly he obey'd, 
 
 And trusted that a gracious eye 
 
 Would ever guide his destiny. 
 
 For whom in holy solitude 
 
 So sweet an Angel pray'd. 
 
 Those days of tranquil joy are fiedp 
 And tears of deep distress 
 From night to morn hath Mary shed : 
 And, say ! when sorrow bow'd her head 
 Did ht* then love her less ? 
 Ah no ! more touching beauty rose 
 Through the dim paleness of her woes, 
 
38 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO I, 
 
 Than when her cheek did bloom 
 
 With joy's own lustre: something there^ 
 
 A saint-like calm, a deep repose, 
 
 Made her look like a spirit fair 
 
 New risen from the tomb. , 
 
 For ever in his heart shall dwell 
 
 The voice with which she said farewell 
 
 To the fading English shore ; 
 
 It dropp'd like dew npon his ear, 
 
 And for the while he ceased to hear 
 
 The sea-wind's freshening roar. 
 
 " To thee I trust my sinless child : 
 
 " And therefore am I reconciled 
 
 " To bear my lonely lot, 
 
 " The Gracious One, who loves the good, 
 
 " For her will smooth the Ocean wild, 
 
 ** Nor in her aged solitude 
 
 " A parent be forgot." 
 
 The last words these her Mother spake, 
 
 Sobbing as if her heart would break 
 
 Beside the cold sea-shore, 
 
 When onwards with the favouring gale, 
 
 Glad to be free, in pride of sail 
 
 Th' impatient Vessel bore. 
 
Canto 1. THE ISLE OP PALMI. 2§ 
 
 Ofa|! could she now in magic glas» 
 Behold the winged glory pass 
 With a slow and cloud like motion, 
 While, as they melted on her eye, 
 She scarce should ken the peaceful sky 
 From the still more peaceful Ocean! 
 And it maybe such dreams are given 
 In mercy by indulgent Heaven, 
 To solace them that mourn : 
 The absent bless our longing sight, 
 The future shows than truth more bright, 
 And phantoms of expir'd delight 
 Most passing sweet return. 
 Mother ! behold thy Child : How still 
 Her upward face! She thinks on thee : 
 Oh, thou canst never gaze thy fill ! 
 How beautiful such piety! 
 There in her lover's guardian arms 
 She rests : and all the wild alarms 
 Of waves or winds are hush'd no more to rise. 
 Of thee, and thee alone, she thinks : 
 See ! on her knees thy daughter sinks : 
 Sure God will bless the prayer that lights such eyes J 
 Didst thou e'er think thy child so fair ? 
 The rapture of her granted prayer 
 Hath breathed that awful beauty through her face: 
 
so THE ISLE OF PALMS. CmU 1. 
 
 Once more upon the deck she stands^ H 
 
 Slowly unclasps her pious hands, 
 
 And brightening smiles, assured of heavenly grace. 
 
 Oh, blessed pair ! and, while I gaze, 
 As beautiful as blest ! 
 Emblem of all your future days 
 Seems now the Ocean's rest ! 
 Beyond the blue depths of the sky. 
 The Tempests sleep ; — and there must lie, 
 Like baleful spirits barr'd from realms of bliss. 
 But singing airs, and gleams of light, 
 And birds of calm, all-glancing bright, 
 Must hither in their gladness come. 
 — Where shall they find a fitter home 
 Thau a night-scene fair as this? 
 And when, her fairy voyage past, 
 The happy Ship is moor'd at last 
 In the loved haven of her Indian Isle, 
 How dear to you will be the beams 
 Of the silent Moon ! What touching dreams 
 Your musing hearts beguile ! 
 Though haply then her radiance fall 
 On some low mansion's flowery wall, 
 Far up an inland vale, 
 YeHben the sheeted mast will tower, 
 
C4OU0 1. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 31 
 
 Her shrouds all rustling like a shower. 
 
 And, melting as wild music's power, 
 
 Low pipe the sea-born gale. 
 
 Each star will speak the tenderest things, 
 
 And when the clouds expand their wings, 
 
 All parting like a fleet, 
 
 Your own beloved Ship, I ween. 
 
 Will foremost in the van be seen, 
 
 And, rising loud and sweet, 
 
 The sailor's joyful shouts be heard. 
 
 Such as the midnight silence stirr'd 
 
 When the wish'd-for breezes blew, 
 
 And, instant as the loud commands. 
 
 Sent upwards from a hundred hands 
 
 The broad sails rose unto the sky, 
 
 And from her slumbers suddenly 
 
 The Ship hke lightning flew ! 
 
 But list! a low and moaning sound 
 At distance heard, like a spirit's song. 
 And now it reigns above, around, 
 As if it call'd the Ship along. 
 The Moon is sunk ; and a clouded grey- 
 Declares that her course is run, 
 And like a God who brings the day, 
 Up mounts the glorious Sun. 
 
32 THe ISLE OF PALMS. Catlto \ 
 
 Soon as his light has warm'd the seas, \ 
 
 From the parting clond fresh hlows the Breeze j 
 
 And that is the spirit whose well-known song 
 
 Makes the vessel to sail in joy along. 
 
 No fears hath she ; — Her giant-form 
 
 O'er wrathful surge, through blackening storm. 
 
 Majestically cahn, would go 
 
 Mid the deep darkness white as snow ! 
 
 But gently now the small waves glide 
 
 Like playful lambs o'er a mountain's side. 
 
 So stately her bearing, so proud her array, 
 
 The Main she will traverse for ever and aye. 
 
 Many ports will exult at the gleam of her mast ! 
 
 ■ — Hush ! hush ! thou vain dreamer ! this hour is her 
 
 last. 
 Five hundred souls in one instant of dread 
 Are hurried o'er the deck; 
 And fast the miserable Ship 
 Becomes a lifeless wreck. 
 Her keel hath struck on a hidden rock, 
 Her planks are torn asunder, 
 And down come her masts with a reeling shock, 
 And a hideous crash like thunder. 
 Her sails are draggled in the brine 
 That gladdened late the skies. 
 And her pendant that ki&s'd the fair moonsbine 
 
Canto 1, THE ISLE or palms. 33 
 
 Down many a fathom lies. 
 
 Her beauteous sides, whose rainboAV hues 
 
 Gleam'd softly from below, 
 
 And flnnw a warm and sunny flash 
 
 O'er the wreaths of murmuring snow, 
 
 To the coral rocks are hurrying down 
 
 To sleep amid colours as bright as their own. 
 
 Oh ! many a dream was in the Ship 
 An hour before her death : 
 And sights of home with sighs disturb'd 
 The sleepers' long-drawn breath. 
 Instead of the murmur of the sea 
 The sailor heard the humming tree 
 Alive through ail its leaves, 
 The hum of the spreading sycamore 
 That grows before his cottage-door, 
 ind the swallow's song in the eaves. 
 3is arms inclosed a blooming boy, 
 Who listen'd with tears of sorrow and joy 
 To the dangers his father had pass'd ; 
 \nd his wife — by turns she wept and smiled, 
 U she look'd on the father of her child 
 Jeturn'd to her heart at last. 
 —He wakes at the vessel's sudden roll, 
 Lnd the rush of waters is in his soul. 
 C 
 
>i THE ISLE OF PALMS. Conto I, 
 
 Astounded the reeling deck he paces. 
 Mid hurrying forms and ghastly faces j — 
 The whole Ship's crew are there. 
 Wailings around and overhead, 
 Brave spirits stupefied or dead, 
 And madness and despair. 
 
 Leave not tlie wreck, thou cruel Boat, 
 While yet 'tis thine to save. 
 And angel-hands will bid thee float 
 Uninjured o'er the wave. 
 Though whirlpools yawn across thy way, 
 And storms, impatient for their prey, 
 Ai ound thee fiercely rave ! 
 Vain all the prayers of pleading eyes. 
 Of outcry loud, and humble sighs, 
 Hands clasp'd, or wildly toss'd on high 
 To bless or curse in agony ! 
 Despair and resignation vain ! 
 Away like a strong-wing'd bird she flies, 
 That heeds not human miseries, 
 And far ofi" in the sunshine dies 
 Like a wave of the restless main. 
 Hush! hush! Ye wretches left behind ! 
 Silence becomes the brave, resign'd 
 To unexpected doom. 
 
Canto I. THE ISLE OF PALMS. S$ 
 
 How quiet the once noisy crowd ! 
 
 The sails now serve them for a shroud, 
 
 And the sea cave is their tomb. 
 
 And where is that loveliest Beijig gone ? 
 
 Hope not tliat she is saved alone, 
 
 Immortal though such beauty seem'd to be. 
 
 She, and the youth that loved her too, 
 
 Went down with the ship and her gallant crew-^ 
 
 No favourites hath the sea. 
 
 Now is the Ocean's bosom bare, 
 Unbroken as the floating air ; 
 The Ship hath melted quite away. 
 Like a struggling dream at break of day. 
 No image meets my wandering eye 
 But the new-risen sun, and the sunny sky. 
 Though the night-shades are gone, yet a vapour dull 
 Bedims the waves so beautiful ; 
 While a low and melancholy moan 
 Mourns for the glory that hath flown. 
 Oh ! that the wild amd wailing strain 
 Were a dream that murmurs in my brain ! 
 What happiness would then be mine. 
 When my eyes, as they felt the morning shine, 
 Instead of the unfathom'd Ocean-grave 
 Should behold Winander's peaceful wave, 
 
36 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CunfO 1 
 
 And the Isles that love her lovinsr breast, 
 
 Each broodinw hke a Halcyon's nest. 
 
 It may not be: — too well I know 
 
 The real doom from fancied woe, 
 
 Tlie black and dismal hne. , 
 
 Yea, many a visage wan and pale 
 
 Will Iwn^ at midnight o'er my tale, 
 
 And weep that it is true. 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS, 
 
 CANTO SECOND. 
 
 O Heavenly Queen ! by Mariners beloved ! 
 Refulgent Moon ! when in the cruel sea 
 Down sank yon fair Ship to her coral grave, 
 "Where didst thou linger then? Sure it behoved 
 A Spirit strong and pitiful like thee 
 At that dread hour thy worshippers to save; 
 Nor let the glory where thy tenderest light, 
 Forsaking even the clouds, with pleasure lay, 
 Pass, like a cloud which none deplores, away, 
 No more to bless the empire of the Night. 
 How oft to thee have home-sick sailors pour'd 
 Upon Iheir midnight-watch, no longer dull 
 When thou didst siinie, hymns wild and beautiful, 
 Worthy the radiant Angel they adored ! 
 And are such hynujings breatheil to thee in vain? 
 Gleam'st thou, as if delighted witti tlie strain, 
 And won by it the pious bark to keep 
 In joy for ever ? — till at once behind 
 
38 THE ISLE OP PALMS. CaittO 2. 
 
 A cloud thou sailest,— and a roaring wind 
 
 Hath sunk her in the deep ! 
 
 Or, though (he zephyr hcarceJy blow, 
 
 Down to the bottom must she go 
 
 With all who wake or sleep, , 
 
 Ere the slumberer from his dream can start, 
 
 Or the hymn hath left the singer's heart ! 
 
 Oh ! sure, if ever mortal prayer 
 
 Were heard where thou and thy sweet stars abide^ 
 
 So many gallant spirits had not died 
 
 Thus mournfully in beauty and in prime! 
 
 But from the sky had shone an arm sublime, 
 
 To bless the worship of that Virgin fair. 
 
 And, only seen by Faith's uplifted eye, 
 
 The wretched vessel gently drifted by 
 
 The fatal rock, and to the crowded shore 
 
 In triumph and in pride th' expected glory bore. 
 
 Oh vain belief! most beauteous as thou art. 
 Thy heavenly visage hides a cruel heart. 
 When Death and Danger, Terror and Dismay, 
 Are madly struggling on the dismal Ocean, 
 With heedless smile and calm unaller'd motion. 
 Onward thou glidest through the milky way, 
 Nor, in tljy own immortal beauty blest, 
 Hear'it dying mortals rave themselves to rest. 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 39 
 
 Yet when this night thou monnt'st thy starry tkrone, 
 
 Brightening to sun-like glory in thy bhss, 
 
 Wilt thou not then thy once-loved Vessel miss, 
 
 And wish her happy, now that she is gone ? 
 
 But then, sad Moon! too late thy grief will be. 
 
 Fair as thou art, thou canst not move the sea. 
 
 — Dear God! Was that wild sound a human cry, 
 
 The voice of one more loath to die 
 
 Than they who round him sleep ? 
 
 Or of a Spirit in the sky, 
 
 A Demon in the deep ? 
 
 No sea-bird, through the darkness sailing, 
 
 E*er utter'd such a doleful wailing, 
 
 Foreboding the near blast : 
 
 If from a living thing it came, 
 
 It sure must have a spectral frame. 
 
 And soon its soul must part :— - 
 
 That groan broke from a bursting heart. 
 
 The bitterest and the last. 
 
 The Figure moves ! It is alive ! 
 None but its wretched self survive, 
 Yea ! drown'd are all I he crew ! 
 Ghosts are they underneath the wave, 
 And he, whom Ocean deign'd to save. 
 Stands there most ghost-like too. 
 
•iO THE ISLE OP PALMS. CuntO 2, 
 
 Alone upon a rock he stands 
 
 Amid the waves, and wrings his hands, 
 
 And lifts to Heaven his steadfast eye, 
 
 With a wild upbraiding agony. 
 
 He sends his soul through the lonesome air 
 
 To God : — but God hears not his prayer; 
 
 For soon as his words from the wretch depart, 
 
 Cold they return on his bailed heart. 
 
 He flings himself down on his rocky tomb, 
 
 And madly laughs at his horrible doom. 
 
 With smiles the Main is overspread, 
 
 As if in mockery of the dead; 
 
 And upward when he turns his sight, 
 
 The unfeeling Sun is shining bright. 
 
 And strikes him with a sickening light. 
 
 While a fainting-fit his soul bedims. 
 
 He thinks that a Ship before him swims, 
 
 A gallant Ship, all fiU'd with gales, 
 
 One radiant gleam of snowy sails — 
 
 His senses return, and he looks in vain 
 
 O'er the empty silence of the Main! 
 
 No Ship is there, with radiant gleam, 
 
 Whose shadow saild throughout his dream: 
 
 Not even one rueful plank is seen 
 
 To tell that a vessel hath ever been 
 
 Beneath these lonely skies : 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 41 
 
 But sea-biids he oft had seen before 
 Following the ship in hush or roar, 
 The loss of their resting-mast deplore 
 With wild and dreary cries. 
 
 What brought him here he cannot tell; 
 Doubt and confusion darken all his soul, 
 While glimmering truth more dreadful makes the 
 
 gloom : 
 Why hath the Ocean that black hideous swell? 
 And in his ears why doth that dismal toll 
 For ever sound, — as if a city-bell 
 Wail'd for a funeral passing to the tomb? 
 Some one hatli died, and buried is this day ; 
 A hoary-headed man, or stripling gay, 
 Or haply some sweet maid, who was a bride, 
 And, ere her head upon his bosom lay 
 Who deem'd her all his own, — the Virgin died ? 
 Why starts the wilder'd dreamer at the sound. 
 And casts his haggard eyes around ? 
 The utter agouy hath seized him now, 
 For Memory drives him, like a slave, to know 
 What Madness would conceal : — His own dear Maid 
 She, who he thought could never die, is dead. 
 " Drown'd !" — still the breaking billows mutter, — 
 "drown'd!" 
 
 C 2 
 
42 THE I8LE OF PALMS. CailtO Z. 
 
 With anguish loud was her death-bed ! 
 
 Nor e'er, — wild wish of utmost woe! 
 
 Shall her sweet corse be found. 
 
 Oft had h(! sworn with faithless breath, 
 
 That his love for tUe Maid was strong as death^ 
 
 By the holy Sun he sware ; 
 
 The Sun upon the Ocean smiles, 
 
 And, with a sudden gleam, reviles 
 
 His vows as light as air. 
 
 Yet soon he flings, with a sudden start, 
 
 That knawing phrenzy from his heart. 
 
 For long in sooth he strove, 
 
 When the waters were booming in his brain, 
 
 And his life was clogg'd with a sickening pain. 
 
 To save his lady-love. 
 
 How long it seems since that dear night, 
 When gazing on the wan moonlight 
 He and his own betrothed stood. 
 Nor fear'd the harmless ocean-flood ! 
 He feels as if many and many a day, 
 Since that bright hour, had pass'd away , 
 The dim remembrance of some joy 
 In which he revell'd when a boy. 
 The crew's dumb misery and his own, 
 WhenlingerJDgly the ship went down, 
 
Canto Q. the isle op palms. 43 
 
 Even like some mournful tale appears. 
 
 By wandering sailor told in other years. 
 
 Yet still he knows that this is all delusion^ 
 
 For how could he for months and years have lain 
 
 A wretched thing upon the cruel Main, 
 
 Calm though it seem to be ? Would gracious Heaven 
 
 Set free his spirit from this dread confusion. 
 
 Oh, how devoutly would his thanks be given 
 
 To Jesus ere he died ! But tortured so 
 
 He dare not pray beneath his weight of wo, 
 
 Lest he should feel, when about to die, 
 
 By God deserted utterly. 
 
 He cannot die : Though he longs for death, 
 
 Stronger and stronger grows his breath, 
 
 And hopeless wo the spring of being feeds j 
 
 He faints not, though his knell seems rung, 
 
 But lives, as if to life he clung. 
 
 And stronger as he bleeds. 
 
 He calls upon the grisly Power, 
 
 And every moment, every hour. 
 
 His sable banners wave ; 
 
 But he comes not in his mortal wrath, 
 
 And long and dreary is the path 
 
 Of anguish to the grave. 
 
 His heart it will not cease to beat, 
 His blood runs free and warm ; 
 
44 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Catlto 2. 
 
 And thoughts of more composed despair, 
 
 Incessant as the waves that bathe his feet, 
 
 Yet comfortless as the empty air, 
 
 Through all his spirit swarm. 
 
 But the weariness of wasting grief 
 
 Hath brought to him its own rehef: 
 
 Each sense is duU'd ! He lies at last 
 
 As if the parting shock were past. 
 
 He sleeps ! — Prolong his haunted rest, 
 
 O God ! — for now the wretch is blest. 
 
 A fair romantic Island, crown'd 
 
 With a glow of blossom'd trees, 
 
 And underneath bestrewn with flowers^, 
 
 The happy dreamer sees. 
 
 A stream comes dancing from a mount, 
 
 Down its fresh and lustrous side. 
 
 Then, tamed into a quiet pool. 
 
 Is scarcely seen to glide. 
 
 Like fairy sprites, a thousand birds 
 
 Glance by on golden wing, 
 
 Birds lovelier than the lovely hues 
 
 Of the bloom wherein they sing. 
 
 Upward he lifts his wondering eyes, 
 
 Nor yet believes that even the skies 
 
 So passing fair can be. 
 
 And lo ! yon gleam of emerald light, 
 
Canto 2. THE ISLE OF PALMS. AH 
 
 For human gaze too dazzling bright, 
 Is that indeed the sea ? 
 
 Adorn'd with all her pomp and pride, 
 Long-fluttering flags, and pendants wide. 
 He sees a stately vessel ride 
 At anchor in a bay. 
 
 Where never waves by storm were driven, 
 Shaped like the Moon^when she isyoimgin heaven, 
 Or melting in a cloud that slops her way. 
 Her masts tower nobly from the rocking deep. 
 Tall as the palm trees on the steep, 
 And, burning mid their crests so darkly green, 
 Her meteor-glories all abroad are seen, 
 Wakening the forests from their solemn sleep ; 
 While suddenly the cannon's sound 
 Rolls thro' the cavern'd glens, and groves profound 
 And never-d3'ing echoes roar around. 
 Shaded with branching palm, the sign of peace, 
 Canoes and skiffs like lightning shoot along, 
 Countless as waves there sporting on the seas; 
 Wiiile still from those that lead the van, a song, 
 Whose chorus rends the inland clifts afar, 
 Tells that advance before that unarm'd throng, 
 Princes and chieftains, with a fearless smile. 
 And oMtstretch'd arms, to welcome to their Isle 
 That gallant Ship of War. 
 
46 THE ISI.B OF PALMS. C«mtO ii. 
 
 And glad are they who therein sail,. 
 Once more to breathe the balmy gale^ 
 To kiss the steadfast strand : 
 They round the world are voyaging, 
 And who can tell their suffering 
 Since last they saw the land ? 
 
 But that bright pageant will not stay : 
 Palms, plumes, and ensigns melt away, 
 Island, and ship ! — Though utter be the change 
 (For on a rock he seems to lie 
 All naked to the burning sky) 
 He doth not think it strange. 
 While in his memory faint recalUngs swim, 
 He fain would think it is a dream 
 That thus distracts his view, 
 Until some unimagined pain 
 Shoots shivering through his troubled brain ; 
 — Though dreadful, all is true. 
 But what to him is anguish now. 
 Though it burn in his blood, and his heart, and hie 
 
 brow, 
 For ever from morn to night ? 
 For io ! an Angel shape descends. 
 As soft and silent as moonlight, 
 And o'er the dreamer bends. 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 4f 
 
 She cannot be an earthly child, 
 Yet, when the Vision sweetly smiled, 
 The light that there did play 
 Reminded him, he knew not why, 
 Of one beloved in infancy, 
 But now far, far away. 
 
 Distnrb'd by fluttering joy, he wakes, 
 And feels a death-like shock ; 
 For, harder even than in his dream, 
 His bed is a lonely rock. 
 Poor wretch ! he dares not open his eye, 
 For he dreads the beauty of the sky, 
 And the useless unavailing breeze 
 That he hears upon the happy seas. 
 A voice ghdes sweetly through his heart. 
 The voice of one that mourns; 
 Yet it hath a gladsome melody — 
 Dear God ! the dream returns ! 
 A gentle kiss breathes o'er his cheek, 
 A kiss of murmuring sighs, 
 It watiders o'er his brow, and falls 
 Like light upon his eyes. 
 Through that long kiss he dimly sees, 
 All bathed in smiles and tears, 
 A well-known face ; and from those lips 
 
IB THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 2. 
 
 A well-known voice he liears. 
 
 With a donbtiiil look he scans the Maid 
 
 As if half-delighted, half-afraid, 
 
 Then bows his wilder'd head, 
 
 And with deep groans, he strives to pray 
 
 That Heaven would drive the fiend away, 
 
 That haunts his dying bed. 
 
 Again he dares to view the air : 
 
 The beautious ghost yet lingers there, 
 
 Veil'd in a spotless shrond : 
 
 Breathing in tones subdued and low, 
 
 Bent o'er hiui like Heaven's radiant bow, 
 
 And still as evening- cloud. 
 
 " Art thou a phantom of the brain :'' 
 He cries, "a mermaid from themaiQ? 
 " A seraph from the sky ? 
 " Or art tiiou a iiend with a seraph's smile, 
 " Come here to mock, on this horrid Isle, 
 "My dying atrony?" — 
 Had he but seen what touching sadness fell 
 On that fair creature's cheek while thus he spokjc 
 Had heard the stifled sigh that slowly broke 
 From her untainted bosom's lab'ring swell, 
 He scarce had hoped, that at the throne of grace - 
 Such cruel words could e'er have been forgiven, 
 
Canto 2. THE ISLE OF PALMS. "" 49 
 
 The impious sin of doubting such a face. 
 Of speaking thus of Heaven. 
 Weeping, she wrings his dripping hair 
 That hangs across his cheek ; 
 And leaves a hundred kisses there, 
 But not one veord can speak. 
 In bliss she listens to his breath: 
 Ne'er murmur'd so the breast of death? 
 Alas ! sweet one! what joy can give 
 Fond-cherish'd thoughts like these ! 
 For hotv mayst thou and thy lover live 
 In the centre of the seas ? 
 Or vainly to your sorrows seek for rest, 
 On a rock where never verdure grew, 
 Too wild even for the wild sea-mew 
 To build her slender nest! 
 
 Sublime is the faith of a lonely soul, 
 In pain and trouble cherish'd ; 
 Sublime the spirit of hope that lives, 
 When Earthly hope has perish'd. 
 And where doth that blest faith abide ? 
 O! not in Man's stern nature : human pride 
 Inhabits there, and oft by virtue led, 
 Pride though it be, it doth a glory shed, 
 That makes the world we mortal beings tread, 
 
50 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Cunto 2, 
 
 In cbosen spots, resplendent as the Heaven \ 
 
 But to yon gentle Maiden turn, 
 
 Who never for herself doth mourn, 
 
 And own that faith's undying urn 
 
 Is but to woman given. 
 
 Now that the shade of sorrow falls 
 
 Across her life, and dutj- calls. 
 
 Her spirit burns with a fervent glow, 
 
 And stately tlirough the gloom of woe 
 
 Behold her alter'd form arise, 
 
 Like a priestess at a sacrifice. 
 
 The touch of earth hath left no taint 
 
 Of weakness in thefearless saint. 
 
 Like clouds,^ all human passions roll, 
 
 At the breath of devotion, from her soul. 
 
 And God looks down with a gleam of grace, 
 
 On the stillness of her heavenward face, 
 
 Just paler in her grief. , 
 
 While, hark ! like one who God adores. 
 
 Such words she o'er her lover pours. 
 
 As give herself relief. 
 
 " Oh ! look again on her who speaks 
 " To thee, and bathes thy sallow cheeks 
 ^* With many a human tear ! 
 " No cruel thing beside thee leans, 
 " Thou knowest what thy Mary means, 
 
CMnfo 2. THE ISLE OF PALM9. 51 
 
 " Thy own true love is here. 
 
 "Open thine eyes ! thy beauteous eyes! 
 
 *' For mercy smile on me! 
 
 " Speak ! — but one word I one little word ! 
 
 "'Tisall I ask of thee. 
 
 " If these eyes would give one transient gleam^ 
 
 " To cheer this dark and dreadful dream, 
 
 " If, while I kiss thy cheek, 
 
 " These dear, dear lips, alas ! so pale, 
 
 " Before their parting spirit fail, 
 
 *' One low farewell would speak, — 
 
 *' This rock so hard would be a bed 
 
 " Of down unto thy Mary's head, 
 
 " And gently would we glide away, 
 
 *' Fitz-Owen' to that purer day 
 
 '' Of which thou once didst sing; 
 
 " Like birds, that, rising from the foam, 
 
 " Seek on some lofty cliff their home, 
 
 *^' On storm-despising wing. 
 
 " Yes ! tiiat thou hear'st thy Mary's voice, 
 
 " That lovely smile declares! 
 
 " Here let us in each other's arms 
 
 *' Dissolve our life in prayers. 
 
 *' I see in that uplifted eye, 
 
 ** That thou art not afraid to die j 
 
 " For ever brave wert thou. 
 
52 THE ISLE OP PALMS. Canto 2. 
 
 " Oh ! press me closer to thy soul, 
 
 ** And, while yet we hear the Ocean roll, 
 
 " Breathe deep the marriage vow ! 
 
 " We hoped far other days to see; 
 
 " But the will of God be done ! 
 
 " My husband ! behold yon pile of clouds 
 
 ** Like a city, round the Sun : 
 
 '* Beyond these clouds, ere the phantoms part, 
 
 ** Thou wilt lean in bliss on ray lovwg heart." — 
 
 Sweet seraph ! lovely was thy form, 
 When, shrouded in the misty storm 
 That swept o'er Snowden's side, 
 The Cambrian shepherd, through the gloom, 
 Like a spirit rising from the tomb, 
 With awe beheld thee ghde ; 
 And lovely wert thon, Child of Light ! 
 When, gazing on the starry night 
 Within Llanberris Lake, 
 Thy spirit felt, in a hnsh like death. 
 The fading earth's last whisper'd breath 
 The holy scene forsake. 
 Oh ! lovelier still, when thy noiseless tread 
 Around thy aged mother's bed 
 Fell soft as snow on snow. 
 When thy heart, from love, repress'd its sighs, 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 53 
 
 An<l from thy never-closing eyes 
 
 Forbade the tears to flow. 
 
 But now unto thy looks are jEciven 
 
 The beauty and tl e power of Heaven : 
 
 The sternness of this dismal Isle 
 
 Is soften'd by thy saintly smile, 
 
 And he, who lay like a madman, bound 
 
 In fetters of anguish to the sjround, 
 
 And heard and saw, in fearful strife, 
 
 The sounds and the sights of unearthly life, 
 
 Now opens his eyes, that glisten mild 
 
 Like the gladsome eyes of a waken'd child, 
 
 For the hideous trance is fled : 
 
 And his soul is till'd with the glory bright. 
 
 That plays like a wreath of halo-light 
 
 Around his Mary's head, 
 
 Most awful is the perfect rest 
 That sits within her eye, 
 Awful her pallid face imprest 
 With the seal of victory. 
 Triumphant o'er the ghastly dreame 
 That haunt the parting soul, 
 She looks like a bird of calm, that floats 
 Unmoved when thunders roll. 
 And gives to the storm as gentle notes 
 
54 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Cant0^2. 
 
 As e'er through sunshine stole. 
 
 Her lover leans on her saviour breast, 
 
 And his heart like hers is still : 
 
 Ne'er martyr'd saints more meekly bow'd 
 
 To their Creator's will. 
 
 As calm they sit, as they had steer 'd 
 
 To some little favourite Isle, 
 
 To mark upon the peaceful waves 
 
 The parting sunbeams smile ; 
 
 As if the lightly feather'd oar 
 
 In an hour could take them to the shore, 
 
 "Where friends and parents dwell : — 
 
 But far, alas! from such shore are they. 
 
 And of friends, who for their safety pray, 
 
 Have ta'en a last farewell. 
 
 But why thus gleams Fitz-Owen's eye ? 
 Why bursts his eager speech ? 
 Lo ! as if brought by angel hands 
 Uninjur'd on the beach, 
 With oars and sails a vessel lies : 
 Salvation from the gracious skies ! 
 He fears it is a dream ; that woe 
 Hath surely crazed his brain : 
 He drives the phantom from his gaze, 
 But the boat appears again. 
 It is the same that used to glide 
 
Canto 2. THE isle of palms. 53 
 
 When the wind had fallen low, 
 
 Like a child along its parent's side, 
 
 Around the guardian prow 
 
 Of the mighty Ship whose shadow lay 
 
 Unmoved upon the watery way. 
 
 In the madness of that dismal hour, 
 
 When the shrieking Ship went down, 
 
 This little boat to the rocky Isle 
 
 Hath drifted all alone. 
 
 And there she lies ! the oars are laid 
 
 As by the hand of pleasure, 
 
 Preparing on the quiet tide 
 
 To beat a gladsome measure. 
 
 The dripping sail is careless tied 
 
 Around the painted mast, 
 
 And a gaudy flag with purple glows. 
 
 Hung up in sportive joy by those 
 
 Whose sports and joys are past. 
 
 So lightly doth this little boat 
 Upon the scarce- touch'd billows float, 
 So careless doth she seem to be 
 Thus left by herself on the homeless sea, 
 That, while the happy lovers gaze 
 On her, the hope of happier days 
 Steals unawares, like Heaven's own breath 
 
56 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Cunto 2. 
 
 O'er souls tliat were prepared for death. 
 
 They gaze on her, till she appears 
 
 To understand their grateful tears ; 
 
 To lie there with her idle sail 
 
 Till Heaven should send some gracious gale, 
 
 Some aj^^Htle spirit of the deep, 
 
 With motion soft and snift as sleep, 
 
 To waft thera to some pleasant cave 
 
 In the unknown gardens of the wave, 
 
 That, hid from every human eye, 
 
 Are happy in the smiling sky, 
 
 And in their beauty win the love 
 
 Of every orb that shines above. 
 
 Fitz-Oweu from his dream awakes. 
 
 And gently in his arms he takes 
 
 His gentle Maid, as a shepherd kind 
 
 Brings from the killing mountain wind 
 
 A snow-white lamb, and lets it rest 
 
 In sleep and beauty on his breast. 
 
 And now the gentle fearless Maid 
 
 Within the boat at rest is laid : 
 
 Her limbs recline a» if in sleep, 
 
 Though almost resting on the deep ; 
 
 On his dear bosom leans her head, 
 
 And through her long hair, wildly spread 
 
 O'er all her face, her melting eyes 
 
Canto *2. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 57 
 
 Are lifted upwards to the skies, 
 
 As ifshepray'd that Heaven would save 
 
 The arms tliat fold her, from the grave. 
 
 The boat hath left the lonesome rock, 
 And tries the wave again, 
 And on she glides without a fear, 
 So beauteous is the Main. 
 Her little sail beneath the suu 
 , Gleams radiant as the snow, 
 And o'er the gently-heaving swell 
 Bounds like a mountain-roe. 
 In that frail bark the Lovers sit, 
 With steadfast face and silent breathy 
 Following the guiding hope of life, 
 Yet reconciled to death. 
 His arm is round her tender side, 
 That moves beneath the press, 
 With a mingled beat of solemn awe 
 And virgin tenderness. 
 They speak not : — but the inward flow 
 Of faith and dread, and joy and wo, 
 Eacli from the other hears : 
 Long, long they gaze with meeting eyes^ 
 Then lift them slowly to the skies 
 Steep'd in imploring tears. 
 D 
 
5li THB ISLE OF PALMS. CaUtO 5 
 
 And ever, as the rock recedes, 
 
 They feel their spirits rise ; 
 
 And half forget that the smiling sea 
 
 Caused all their miseries. 
 
 Yet safe to them is the trackless brine 
 
 As some well-known and rural road 
 
 Paced in their childhood ; — for they love 
 
 Each other, and believe in God. 
 
 And well might the refulgent day 
 These Ocean Pilgrims cheer, 
 And make them feel as if the glades 
 Of home itself were near. 
 For a living sentiment of joy, 
 vSuch as doth sleep on hill and vale 
 When the friendly sun comes from his clouds 
 The vernal bloom to hail, — 
 Plays on the Ocean's sparkling breast, 
 That, half in motion, half at rest. 
 Like a happy thing doth lie ; 
 Breathing that fresh and fragrant air. 
 And seeming in that slumber fair 
 The Brother of the Sky. 
 Hues brighter than the ruby-stone 
 With radiance gem his wavy zone, 
 A million hues, I ween : 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 59 
 
 Long dazzling lines of snowy white, 
 
 Fantastic wreath'd with purple light, 
 
 Or bathed in richest green. 
 
 The flying fish, on wings of gold, 
 
 Skims through the sunny ray, 
 
 Then^ like the rainbow's dying gleam. 
 
 In the clear wave melts away. 
 
 And all the beauteous joy seems made 
 
 For that dauntless Youth and sainted Maid, 
 
 Whom God and Angles love : 
 
 Comfort is in the helm, the sail. 
 
 The light, the clouds, the sea, the gale, 
 
 Around, below, above. 
 
 And thus they sail, and sail along, 
 Without one thought of fear; 
 As calm as if the boatman's song 
 Awoke an echoing cheer. 
 O'er the hills that stretch in sylvan pride 
 On the Bala Lake's romantic side. 
 And lo ! beneath the mellowing light, 
 That trembles between day and night 
 Sefore the Sun's decline. 
 As to the touch of fairy-hand 
 Upstarting dim the nameless land 
 Extends its mountain line. 
 
69 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 2. 
 
 It is no cloud that steadfast lies 
 
 Between the Ocean and the Skies ; 
 
 No image of a cloud, that flings 
 
 Across the deep its shadowy wings ; 
 
 Such as oft clieats with visions fair , 
 
 The heart of home-sick manner. 
 
 It is the living Earth ; They see 
 
 From the shore a smile of amity 
 
 That gently draws them on, 
 
 Such a smile as o'er all Nature glows 
 
 At a summer evening's fragrant close, 
 
 When the winds and rain are gone. 
 
 The self-moved boat appears to seek 
 
 With gladsome glide a home-like creek 
 
 In the centre of a bay, 
 
 Which the calm and quiet hills surround, 
 
 And touch'd by waves withoutii sound, 
 
 Almost as calm as they. 
 
 And, what if here fierce savage men 
 Glare on them from some darksome den ? — 
 What would become of this most helpless Maid ? 
 Fitz-Owen thinks : — but in her eye 
 So calmly bright he can descry 
 That she is not afraid 
 
Canto 2. the isle of palms. 61 
 
 Of savage men, or monsters wild, 
 
 But is sublimely reconciled 
 
 To meet and bear her destiny. 
 
 A gentle riplu);^ on the sand — 
 
 One stroke of the dexterous oar — 
 
 The sail is furl'd : the boat is moor'd : 
 
 And the Lovers walk tlie shore. 
 
 To them it is an awful thought. 
 
 From the wild world of waters brought 
 
 By God's protecting hand, 
 
 When every Christian soul was lost, 
 
 On that unknown, but beauteous coast, 
 
 As in a dream to stand. 
 
 "While their spirits with devotion burn, 
 
 Their faces to the sea they turn. 
 
 That lately seem'd their grave ; 
 
 And bless in murmurs soft and low. 
 
 The beautiful, the halcyon glow. 
 
 That bathes the evening wave. 
 
 Before the setting sun they kneel, 
 
 And through the silent air, 
 
 To Him who dwells on that throne of hght 
 
 They pour their souls in prayer. 
 
 Their thoughts are floating, like the clouds 
 
 That seek the beauteous West, 
 
62 THK ISLE OF PALMS. Cutlto 2. 
 
 Their gentleness, their peace the same. 
 
 The same their home of rest. 
 
 Now Night hath come with the cooling breeze, 
 
 And these Lovers still are on their knees. 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS 
 
 CANTO THIRD. 
 
 OH! many are the beauteous isles 
 
 Unknown to human eye, 
 
 That, sleeping 'mid the Ocean-smiles, 
 
 In happy silence lie. 
 
 The Ship may pass them in the night, 
 
 Nor the sailors know what a lovely sight 
 
 Is resting on the Main ; 
 
 Some wandering Ship who hath lost her way, 
 
 And never, or by night or day, 
 
 Shall pass these isles again. 
 
 There, groves that bloom in endless spring 
 
 Are rustling to the radiant wing 
 
 Of birds, in various plumage bright 
 
 As rainbow-hues, or dawning light. 
 
 Soft-falling showers of blossoms fair 
 
 Float ever on the fragrant air^ 
 
 Like showers of vernal snow, 
 
64 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Catlto 3. 
 
 And from the fruit-tree, spreading tall, 
 
 The richly ripen'd clusters fall 
 
 Oft as sea-breezes blow. 
 
 The sun and clouds alone possess 
 
 The joy of all that loveliness: 
 
 And sweetly to each other smile 
 
 The live-long day— sun, cloud, and isle. 
 
 How silent lies each sheltered bay ! 
 
 No other visitors have they 
 
 To their shores of silvery sand, 
 
 Than the wave^ that, murmuring in their glee, 
 
 AU hurrying in a joyful band 
 
 Couie dancing from the sea. 
 
 How did I love to sigh and weep 
 For those that sailed upon the deep, 
 When, yet a wondering child, 
 I sat alone at dead of uight, 
 Hanging all breathless with delight 
 O'er their adventures wild ! 
 Trembling I heard of dizzy shrouds, 
 Where up among the raving clouds 
 The sailor boy must go ; 
 Thunder and lightning o'er his head ! 
 And, should he fall— O thought of dread ! 
 Waves mountain-high below. 
 
Canto S. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 6* 
 
 How leapt my heart with wilderiDg fears, 
 
 Gazing on savage islanders 
 
 Ranged tierce in long canoe, 
 
 Their poison'd spears, their war-attire, 
 
 And plumes twined bright, like wreaths of fire, 
 
 Round brows of dusky hue ! 
 
 What tears would fill my wakeful eyes 
 
 AVhen some delicious paradise 
 
 (As if a cloud had roll'd 
 
 On a sudden from the bursting sun) 
 
 Freshening the Ocean wliere it shone, 
 
 Flung wide its groves of gold! 
 
 No more the pining Mariner 
 
 In feverish anguish raves, 
 
 For like an angel, knid and fair. 
 
 That smiles, and smiling saves. 
 
 The glory charms away distress. 
 
 Serene in silent loveliness 
 
 Amid the dash of waves.- 
 
 And wouldst thou think it hard to dwe I 
 Alone within some sylvan cell. 
 Some fragrant arch of flowers. 
 Raised like a queen with gracious smile 
 In the midst of this her subject isle, 
 This labyrinth of bowers? 
 1) 2 
 
06 THE ISLE OP PALMS. Catlto 3- 
 
 Could the fair earth, and fairer skies, 
 
 Clouds, breezes, fountains, groves, 
 
 To banish from thy heart suffice, 
 
 All thought of deeper loves ? 
 
 Or wouldst thou pine thy life away, 
 
 To kiss once more the blessed ray 
 
 That shines in human eyes ? 
 
 What though the clustering roses came 
 
 Like restless gleams of magic flame, 
 
 As if they loved thy feet, 
 
 To win thee like a summer sprite, 
 
 With purest touches of delight, 
 
 To the Fairy Queen's retreat ! 
 
 Oh ! they would bloom and wither too, 
 
 And melt their pearls of radiant dew, 
 
 Without one look from thee ; 
 
 What pleasure could that beauty give. 
 
 Which, of all mortal things that live, 
 
 None but thyself may see? 
 
 And where are the birds that cheer'dthiae eyes 
 
 With wings and crests of rainbow dyes, 
 
 That wont for aye to glide 
 
 Like sun-beams through the shady bowers, 
 
 Charming away the liappy hours 
 
 With songs of love or pride? 
 
 Soon, soon thou hatest this Paradise j 
 
Canio 5, the isle of palms. 
 
 It seems the soul hath fled 
 
 That raade it fairer than the skies. 
 
 And a joyful beauty shed 
 
 O'er the tremor of the circliug wave, 
 
 That now with restless moans and sighs, 
 
 Sounds like the dirge-song of the dead, 
 
 Dim breaking round a grave. 
 
 But she thou lovest is at thy side, 
 The Island Queen becomes thy bride. 
 And God and Nature sanctify the vow ; 
 Air, Earth, and Ocean smile once more, 
 And along the forest-fringed shore, 
 What mirth and music now ! 
 What warm and heavenly tints illume 
 The land that lately seem'd a tomb 
 Where thou wert left to die ! 
 So bathed in joy this earth appears 
 To him, who, Wind for lingering years, 
 At last beholds the sky. 
 Thy heart Was hke an untouch'd lyre. 
 Silent as death— Let the trembling wire 
 The hand that knows its spirit feel ; 
 And list ! What melting murmurs steal 
 Like incense to the realms above, 
 Such sounds as parted souls might love. 
 
€8 THE ISLK OF PALMS. CtmiO 3. 
 
 And now if a home-bound vessel lay 
 
 At anchor in yon beauteous bay, 
 
 jTill the land-breeze her canvass wings should swell^ 
 
 From the sweet Isle thou scarce wouldst part, 
 
 But, when thou didst, thy lingering heart 
 
 Would sadly say, " Farewell i" 
 
 In such a fairy Isle now pray'd 
 Fitz-Owen and his darling Maid. 
 The setting sun, with a pensive glow, 
 Had bathed their foreheads bending low, 
 Nor ceased their voice, or the breath of their prayer, 
 Till the moonlight lay on the mellow'd air. 
 Then from the leaves they calmly rose, 
 As after a night of calm repose, 
 And Mary lean'd her face 
 With a sob of joy on her Lover's breast. 
 Who with kind tones the Maiden press'd 
 In a holy pure embrace. 
 And gently he kiss'd her tearful eyes. 
 And bade her heart lie still. 
 For there was a power in the gracious skies, 
 To shield their saints from ill. 
 Then, guided by the moon-light pale, 
 They walk'd into a sylvan vale, 
 Soft, silent, warm, and deep > 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 69 
 
 And there beneath her languid head, 
 The silken wither'd leaves he spread. 
 That she might sweetly sleep. 
 Then down he sat by her tender side, 
 And, as she lay, with soft touch dried 
 The stealing tears she could not hide ; 
 Till sleep, like a faint shadow, fell 
 O'er the hu«ht face he loved so well, 
 And smiling dreams were given 
 To cheer her heart; then down he laid 
 His limbs beside the sleeping Maid, 
 In the face of the starry Heaven. 
 
 Sleep fell upon their wearied souls 
 With a power as deep as death. 
 Scarce trembled Mary's floating hair 
 In her Lover's tranquil breath. 
 In that still trance did sweet thoughts come 
 From the brook, and the glade, and the sky, of home 
 And the gentle sound of her mother's voice 
 Bade Mary's slumbering soul rejoice. 
 For she in dreams to Wales hath flown. 
 And sits in a cottage of her own, 
 Beneath its sheltering tree : 
 Fitz-Owen's eye is fix'd on hers, 
 While with a bashful smile she stii-s 
 
70 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 3. 
 
 Beside her mother's knee. 
 
 But the rising sun hath pourMhis beams 
 
 Into her heart, and broke her dreams ; 
 
 Slowly she lifts her eyes, 
 
 And, wondering at the change, looks round, 
 
 Upon that wild enchanted ground, 
 
 And these delightful skies. 
 
 Over her Lover's breast she breathes 
 
 A blessing and a prayer, 
 
 And gently they stir his sleeping soul, 
 
 Like the voice of the morning-air. 
 
 Soon as the first surprise is past, 
 
 They rise from their leafy bed, 
 
 As cheerful as the new-woke birds 
 
 That sing above their head. 
 
 And trusting in the merciful power 
 
 That saved them in that dismal hour 
 
 When the ship sank in the sea, 
 
 Cheering their souls with many a smile. 
 
 They walk through the woods of this nameless Isle 
 
 In undisturb'd tranquillity. 
 
 Well might they deem that wizard's wand 
 Had set them down in Fairy-land, 
 Or that their souls some beauteous dream obey'd: 
 They know not where to look or listen, 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 71 
 
 For pools and streams of crystal glisten 
 
 Above, around, — embracing like the air 
 
 The soft-reflected trees ; while every where 
 
 From shady nook, clear hill, and sunny glade, 
 
 The ever-varying soul of music play'd ; 
 
 As if, at some capricious thing's command, 
 
 Indulging every momentary mood, 
 
 With voice and instrument, a fairy band 
 
 Beneath some echoing precipice now stood. 
 
 Now on steep mountain's rocky battlement. 
 
 Or from the clouds their blended chorus sent, 
 
 With jocund din to mock the solitude. 
 
 They gaze with never-sated eyes 
 
 On lengthening lines of flowery dyes, 
 
 That through the woods, and up the mountains run : 
 
 Not richer radiance robes 4he Even, 
 
 When she ascends her throne in Heaven, 
 
 Beside the setting sun. 
 
 Scattering the blossomy gems away, 
 
 Like the white shower of the Ocean spray, 
 
 Across their path for ever glide or shoot 
 
 Birds of such beauty, as might lead 
 
 The soul to think that magic power decreed 
 
 Spirits to dwell therein ; nor are they mute, 
 
 But each doth chant his own beloved strain, 
 
 For ever trembling on a natural tune, 
 
72 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CatltO 3. 
 
 The heart's emotions seeming so to suit, 
 That the rapt Lovers are desirmg soon, 
 That silence never may return again. 
 
 A cheerful welcome these bright creatnres sing: 
 And as the Lovers roam from glade to glade, 
 That shine with sunlight, and with music ring, 
 Seems but for them the enchanted island made. 
 So strong the influence of the fairy scene, 
 That soon they feel as if for many a year 
 In love and rapture they had linger'd here, 
 V. hile with the beauteous things that once have been, 
 Long, long ago, ®r only in the mind 
 By Fancy imaged, lies their native Wales, 
 its dim-seen hills, and all its streamy vales ; 
 Sounds in their souls its rushing mountain wind. 
 Like music heard in youth, remembered well. 
 But when or where it rose they cannot tell. 
 Delightful woods, and many a cloudless sky, 
 Are in their memory strangely floating by, 
 But the faint pageant slov/ly melts away, 
 And to the living earth they yield 
 Their willing hearts, as if re veal'd 
 In all its glory on this mystic day. 
 Like fire, strange flowers around them flame. 
 Sweet, harmless fire, breathed from some magic urn 
 
Canto 3. the isle op palms. 73 
 
 The silky gossamer that may not burn, 
 
 Too wildly beautiful to bear a name. 
 
 And when the Ocean sends a breeze, 
 
 To wake the music sleeping in the trees. 
 
 Trees scarce they seem to be ; for many a flower, 
 
 Radiant as dew, or ruby polish'd bright, 
 
 Glances on every spray, that bending light 
 
 Around the stem, in variegated bows, 
 
 Appear like some awakened fountain-shower, 
 
 Tliat with the colour of the evening glows. 
 
 And towering o'er these beauteous woods, 
 Gigantic rocks were ever dimly seen. 
 Breaking with solemn grey the tremulous green, 
 And frowning far in castellated pride ; 
 "While, hastening to the Ocean, hoary floods 
 Sent up a thin and radiant mist between, 
 Softening the beauty that it could not hide. 
 Lo! higher still the stately Palm-trees rise. 
 Chequering the clouds with their unbending stems, 
 And o'er the clouds amid the dark-blue skies, 
 Lifting their rich unfading diadems. 
 How calm and placidly they rest 
 Upon the Heaven's indulgent breast, 
 As if their branches never breeze had known ! 
 Light bathes them aye in glancing showers, 
 
74 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Canio 3, 
 
 Aod Silence mid their lofty bowers 
 
 Sits on her moveless throne. 
 
 Entranced there the Lovers gaze, 
 
 Till every human fear decays, 
 
 And bliss steals slowly through their quiet souls ; 
 
 Though ever lost to human kind 
 
 And all they love, they are resign'd : 
 
 While with a scarce-heard murmur rolls, 
 
 Like the waves that break along the shore, 
 
 The sound of the world they must see no more. 
 
 List ! Mary is the first to apeak. 
 
 Her tender voice still tenderer in her bliss ; 
 
 And breathing o'er her silent husband's cheek, 
 
 As from an infant's lip, a timid kiss. 
 
 Whose touch at once all lingering sorrow calms, 
 
 Says, " God to us in love hath given 
 
 " A home on earth, most like to Heaven, 
 
 " Our own sweet Isle of Palms.^* 
 
 And where shall these happy lovers dwell? 
 Shall they seek in the cliflfs for some mossy cell ? 
 Some wilder haunt than ever hermit knew ? 
 Where they may shun the mid-day heat, 
 And slumber in a safe retreat. 
 When evening sheds her dew j 
 Or shall they build a leafy nest, 
 
CatltO 3. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 75 
 
 Where they like birds may sport and rest, 
 
 By clustering bloom preserved from sun and rain, 
 
 Upon some little radiant mound 
 
 Within reach of the freshening sound 
 
 That murmurs from the Main ? 
 
 No farther need their footsteps roam : 
 
 Ev'n where they stand, a sylvan home 
 
 Steals like a thought upon their startled sight; 
 
 For Nature's breath with playful power 
 
 Hath framed an undecaying bower, 
 
 With colours heavenly bright. 
 
 Beyond a green and level lawn, 
 
 Its porch and roof of roses dawn 
 
 Through arching trees that lend a mellowing shade. 
 
 How gleams the bower with countless dyes 1 
 
 Unwearied spring fresh bloom supplies, 
 
 Still brightening where they fade. 
 
 Tvi^o noble Palms, the forest's pride. 
 
 Guarding the bower on either side. 
 
 Their straight majestic stems to Heaven uprear : 
 
 There Beauty sleeps in Grandeur's arms, 
 
 And sheltered there from all alarms. 
 
 Hath nought on earth to fear. 
 
 The Dwellers in that lovely bower, 
 If mortal shape may breathe such blessed air, 
 
76 THE ISLE or PALMS. CutltO S. 
 
 Might gaze on it from morn till evening hour, 
 
 Nor wish for-other sight more tonchiiig fair. 
 
 Why look abroad ? All things are here 
 
 Delightful to the eye and ear, 
 
 And fragrant pure as light floats all around. 
 
 But if they look — those mystic gleams, 
 
 The glory we adore in dreams, 
 
 May here in truth be found. 
 
 Fronthjg the bower, eternal woods. 
 
 Darkening the mountain solitudes, 
 
 With awe the soul oppress : 
 
 There dwells, with shadowy glories crown'd. 
 
 Rejoicing in the gloom profound. 
 
 The Spirit of the Wilderness. 
 
 Lo! stretching inward on the right, 
 
 A winding vale eludes the sight, 
 
 But where it dies the happy soul must dream : 
 
 Oh ! never sure beneath the sun, 
 
 Along such lovely banks did run 
 
 So musical a stream. 
 
 B'.it who shall dare in thought to paint 
 
 Yon fairy waterfall ? 
 
 Still moistened by the misty showers. 
 
 From fiery-red, to yellow soft and faint, 
 
 Fantastic bands of fearless flowers 
 
 Sport o'er the rocky wall ; 
 
Canto S. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 77 
 
 And ever, through the shrouding spray, 
 
 Whose diamonds glance as bright as they, 
 
 Float birds of graceful form, and gorgeous pUimes, 
 
 Or dazzling white as snow ; 
 
 While, as the passing sun illumes 
 
 The river's bed, in silent pride 
 
 Spanning the cataract roaring wide, 
 
 Unnumber'd rainbows glow. 
 
 But turn around, if thou hast powev 
 To leave a scene so fair. 
 And lookhig left-wards from the bower, 
 What glory meets thee there ! 
 For lo ! the heaven encircled Sea 
 Outspreads the dazzling pageantry, 
 As if the whole creation were his own, 
 And the Isle, on which thy feet now stand 
 In beauty rose at his command, 
 And for his joy alone. 
 Beyond his billows rolling bright, 
 The Spirit dares not wing her flight ; 
 For where upon the boundless deep, 
 Should she, if wearied, sink to sleep ? 
 Back to the beauteous Isle of Palms 
 Glad she returns; there constant calms 
 The bays, that sleep like inland lakes, invest : 
 
78 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 
 
 Delightful all ! —but to your eyes, 
 
 O blessed Pair ! one circlet lies 
 
 More fair than all the rest. 
 
 At evening, through that silent bay 
 
 With beating hearts ye steer'd your way, 
 
 Yet trusting in the guiding love of Heaven j 
 
 And there, upon your bended knees, 
 
 To the unseen Pilot of the Seas 
 
 Your speechless prayers were given. 
 
 From your bower-porch the skiff behold 
 
 That to this Eden bore 
 
 Your almost hopeless souls : — how bold 
 
 It seems to lie, all danger o'er, 
 
 A speck amid the fluid gold 
 
 That burns along the shore ! 
 
 Five cloudless days have, from the placid de 
 In glory risen o'er this refulgent Isle, 
 And still the sun retired to rest too soon ; 
 And each night with more gracious smile, 
 Guarding the lovers when they sleep, 
 Hath watch'd the holy Moon. 
 Tiirough many a dim and dazzling glade, 
 They in their restless joy have stray'd, 
 In many a grot repos'd and twilight cave; 
 Have wander'd round each ocean bay, 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 79 
 
 And gazed where inland waters lay 
 
 Serene as night, and bright as day, 
 
 Untouch'd by wind or wave. 
 
 Happy their doom, though strange and wild, 
 
 And soon their souls are reconciled 
 
 For ever here to live, and here to die. 
 
 Why siiould they grieve ? a constant mirth 
 
 With music fills the air and earth. 
 
 And beautifies the sky. 
 
 High on the rocks the wild-flowers shine 
 
 In beauty bathed, and joy divine : 
 
 In their dark nooks to them are given 
 
 The sunshine and the dews of Heaven. 
 
 The fish that dart like silver gleams 
 
 Are happy in their rock-bound streams, 
 
 Happy as they that roam the Ocean's breast : 
 
 Though far away on sounding wings 
 
 Yon bird could fly, content he sings 
 
 Around his secret nest. 
 
 And shall the Monarchs of this Isle 
 
 Lament, when one unclouded smile 
 
 Hangs like perpetual spring on every wood ? 
 
 And often in their hstening souls 
 
 By a delightful awe subdued, 
 
 God's voice, like mellow thunder, rolls 
 
 All Ihrouch the silent solitude. 
 
8W THE ISLE OF PALAIS. Catlto 3 
 
 Five days have fled !— The sun again, 
 Like an angel, o'er the brightening Main 
 Uplifts his radiant head 5 
 And fall upon yon dewy bower, 
 The warm tints of the dawning hour 
 Mid warmer still are shed. 
 The sun pours not his light in vain 
 On them who therein dwell: — a strain 
 Of pious music, through the morning calm 
 Wakening unwonted echoes, wildly rings. 
 And kneeling there to Mercy's fane. 
 While flowers supply their incensebalm, 
 At the foot of yon majestic Palm 
 The Maid her matins sings. 
 It is the Sabbath morn : — since last 
 From Heaven it shone, what awful things have past 
 In tht'ir beloved vessel as it roU'd 
 In pride and beauty o'er the waves of gold. 
 Then were they sailing free from all alarms, 
 Rejoicing in her scarce-felt motion 
 When the ship flew, or slumbering Ocean 
 Detain'd her m his arms. 
 Beneath the sail's expanded shade. 
 They and the thoughtless crew together pray'd. 
 And sweet their voices rose above the wave ; 
 Nor seem'd it woeful as a strain 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 81 
 
 That never was to rise again, 
 And chanted o*er the grave. 
 
 Ne'er seera'd before the Isle so bright; 
 And when their hymns were ended, 
 Oh ! ne'er in such intense delight 
 Had their rapt souls been blended. 
 Some natural tears they surely owed 
 To those who wept for them, and fast they flow'd, 
 And oft will flow amid their happiest hours ; 
 But not less fair the summer day, 
 Though glittering through the sunny ray 
 \re seen descending showers. 
 Jut how could Sorrow, Grief, or Pain, 
 The glory of that morn sustain? 
 Uone amid the Wilderness 
 
 lore touching seem'd the holiness 
 
 )f that mysterious day of soul-felt rest : 
 
 'hey are the first that e'er adored 
 
 ►n this wild spot their Heavenly Lord, 
 
 >r gentle Jesus bless'd, 
 
 O Son of God !" — How sweetly came 
 ito their eouls that blessed name ! 
 
 ven like health's hope-reviving breath 
 
 one upon the bed of death. 
 
 Our Saviour !" — What angelic grace 
 E 
 
82 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CaUtO 3, 
 
 Stole with dim smiles o'er Mary's face, 
 
 While through the solitude profound 
 
 With love and awe she breath'd that holy sound ! 
 
 Yes ! He will save ! a still small voice 
 
 To Mary's fervent prayer replied ; 
 
 Beneath his tender care rejoice, 
 
 On earth who for his children died. 
 
 Her Lover saw that, while she pray'd,' 
 
 Communion with her God was given 
 
 Unto her sinless spirit ; — nought he said ; 
 
 But gazing on her with a fearful love, 
 
 Such as saints feel for sister-souls above, 
 
 Her cheek upon his bosom gently laid. 
 
 And dreamt with her of Heaven. 
 
 Pure were their souls, as infant's breath, 
 Who in its cradle guiltless sinks in death. 
 No place far human frailty this, 
 Despondency or fears. 
 Too beautiful the wild appears 
 Almost for human bliss. 
 Was love like theirs then given in vain ? 
 And must they, trelibling, shrink from pure delight? 
 Or shall that God, who on the main 
 Hath bound them with a billowy chain, 
 Approve the holy rite, 
 
Canto 3> the islb of palms. S 
 
 That, by their pious souls alone 
 
 Pe> form'd before his silent throne 
 
 In innocence and joy, 
 
 Here, and in realms beyond the grave, 
 
 Unites those whom the cruel wave 
 
 Could not for grief destroy ? 
 
 No fears felt they of guilt or sin, 
 
 For sure they heard a voice within 
 
 That set their hearts at rest ; 
 
 They pass'd the day in peaceful prayer, 
 
 And when beneath the evening air 
 
 They sought again their arbour fair, 
 
 A smiling angel met them there. 
 
 And bade their couch be blest. 
 
 Nor veil'd the Moon her virgin-light, 
 
 But, clear and cloudless all the night, 
 
 Hung o'er the flowers where love and beauty lay; 
 
 And, loth to leave that holy bower, 
 
 With lingering pace obey'd the power 
 
 Of bright returning day. 
 
 And say ! what wanteth now the Isle of PalmSj 
 To make it happy as those Isles of rest 
 (When eve the sky becalms 
 Like a subsiding sea) 
 That hang resplendent mid the gorgeous west, 
 
84i THE ISLE OP PALMf. Canio 3» 
 
 All brightly imaged, mountain, grove, and tree, 
 
 The setting sun's last lingering pageantry ! 
 
 Hath Fancy ever dreamt of seraph- Powers 
 
 Walking in beauty thro' these doud-framed bowers, 
 
 Light as the mist that wraps their dazzling feetP 
 
 And hath she ever paused to hear. 
 
 By moonlight brought unto her ear, 
 
 Their hymnings wild and sweet? 
 
 Lo ! human creatures meet her view 
 
 As happy, and as beauteous too. 
 
 As those aerial phantoms ! — in their mien, 
 
 Where'er they move, a graceful calm is seen 
 
 All foreign to this utter solitude. 
 
 Yet blended with such wild and fairy glide. 
 
 As erst in Grecian Isle had beautified 
 
 The guardian Deities of Grove and Flood. 
 
 Are these fair creatures earth-born and alive. 
 
 And mortal like the flowers that round them smile ? 
 
 Or if into the Ocean sank their Isle 
 
 A thousand fathoms deep — would they survive, — 
 
 Like sudden rainbows spread their arching wings. 
 
 And while, to cheer their airy voyage, sings 
 
 With joy the charmed sea, the Heavens give way. 
 
 That in the spirits, who had sojonrn'd long 
 
 On earth, might glide, then re-assume their sway, . 
 
 And from the gratulating throng 
 
 Of kindred spirits, drink the inexpressive song [ 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 85 
 
 Oh ! fairer now these blessed Lovers seem, 
 Gliding like spirits through o'er-arching trees, 
 Their beauty mellowing in the chequered light| 
 Than, years ago, on that resplendent night. 
 When yielded up to an unearthly dream, 
 In their sweet ship they sail'd upon the seas. 
 Aye ! years ago ! — for in this temperate clime, 
 Fleet, passing fleet, the noiseless plumes of time 
 Float through the fragrance of the sunny air j 
 One little month seems scarcely gone, 
 Since in a vessel of their own 
 At eve they landed there. 
 Their bovver is now a stately bower, 
 For, on its roof, the loftiest flower 
 To bloom so lowly grieves, 
 And up like an ambitious thing 
 That feareth nought, behold it spring 
 Till it meet the high Paloi-leaves ! 
 The porch is opening seen no more, 
 But folded up with blossoms hoar. 
 And leaves green as the sea, 
 And, when the wind hath found them out, 
 The merry waves that dancing rout 
 May not surpass in glee. 
 About their home so little art. 
 They seem to live in Nature's hearty 
 
' 86 THE ISLE OF PAtMS. CantoS. 
 
 A sylvan court to hold 
 
 In a palaee framed of lustre green, 
 
 More rare than to the bright Flower Queen 
 
 Was ever built of old. 
 
 Where are they in the hours of day ? 
 — The birds are happy on the spray, 
 The dolphins on the deep, 
 Whether they wanton full of life, 
 Or, wearied with their playful strife, 
 Amid the sunshine sleep. 
 And are these things by Nature blest 
 In sport, in labour, and in rest, — 
 And yet the Sovereigns of the Isle opprest 
 With languor or with pain ? 
 No ! with light glide, and cheerful song, 
 Through flowers and fruit they dance along, 
 And still fresh joys, nncall'd for, throng 
 Through their romantic reign. 
 The wild- deer bounds along the roclc. 
 But let him not yon hunter mock. 
 Though strong, and fierce, and fleet ; 
 For he will trace his mountain-path. 
 Or else his antler's threatening wrath 
 In some dark winding meet. 
 VauQt not, gay bird ! thy gorgeous plume, 
 
CttntO 3. THE ISLE OF PALMS. S7 
 
 I 
 
 Though on yon leafy tree it bloom 
 Like a flovrer both rich and fair : 
 Vain thy loud song and scarlet glow, 
 To save from his unerring bow ; 
 The arrow finds thee there. 
 Dark are the caverns of the wave, 
 Yet those, that sport there, cannot save, 
 Though hidden from the day. 
 With silvery sides bedropt with gold. 
 Struggling they on the beach are roll'd 
 O'er shells as bright as they. 
 
 Their pastimes these, and labours too, 
 From day to day unwearied they renew. 
 In garments floating with a woodland grace ; 
 Oh I lovelier far than fabled sprites, 
 They glide along through new dehghts. 
 Like health and beauty vying in the race. 
 Yet hours of soberer bliss they know, 
 Their spirits in more solemn flow 
 At day-fall oft will run. 
 When from his throne, with kingly motion, 
 Into the loving arms of Ocean 
 Descends the setting Sun. 
 " Oh ! beauteous are thy rocky vales, 
 ** Land of my birth, forsaken Wales ! 
 
38 THE ISL£ OP PALMS. Cotlto 3. 
 
 " Towering from continent or sea, 
 
 • Where is the Mountain like to thee ? — 
 
 " The eagle's darling, and the tempest's pride, — 
 
 *' Thou ! on whose ever- varying side 
 
 " The shadows and the sun-beams glide 
 
 " In still or stormy weather. 
 
 " Oh Snowdon ! may I breathe thy name ? 
 
 " And thine too, of gigantic frame, 
 
 ** Cader-Idris ? 'neath the solar flame, 
 
 ** Oh ! proud ye stand together ! 
 
 *' And thou, sweet Lake !"— but from its wave 
 
 She turn'd her inward eye, 
 
 For near these banks, within her grave, 
 
 Her Mother sure must lie : 
 
 Weak were her limbs long, long ago. 
 
 And grief, ere this, hath laid them low. 
 
 Yet soon Fitz-Owen's eye and voice 
 From these sad dreams recal 
 His weeping wife ; and deeply cheer'd 
 She soons forgets them all. 
 Or, haply, through delighted tears 
 Her mother's smiling shade appears. 
 And, her most duteous child caressing, 
 Bestows on her a parent's blessing. 
 And tells that o'er these holy groves 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 99 
 
 Oft hangs the parent whom she loves. 
 How beauteous both in hours like these! 
 Prest in each other's arms, or on their knees, 
 They thiuk of things for which no words are found ; 
 They need not speak : their looks express 
 More life-pervading tenderness 
 Than music's sweetest sound. 
 He thinks upon the dove-like rest 
 That broods within her pious breast; 
 The holy calm, the hush divine, 
 Where pensive, night-like glories shine i 
 Even as the mighty Ocean deep. 
 Yet clear and waveiess as the sleep 
 Of some lone heaven-reflecting lake. 
 When evening-airs its gleam forsake. 
 She thinks upon his love for her, 
 His wild, empassion'd character. 
 To whom a look, a kiss, a smile, 
 Rewards for danger and for toil I 
 His power of spirit unsubdued. 
 His fearlessness, — his fortitude,-** 
 The radiance of his gifted soul 
 Where never mists or darkness roll 
 A poet's soul that flows for ever, 
 Right onwards like a noble river, 
 E 2 
 
90 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 3. 
 
 Refulgent still, or by his native woods 
 Sbaded, and rolling on tlnough sunless solitudes. 
 
 In love and mercy, sure on him had God 
 The sacred power that stirs the soul bestow'd j 
 Nor fell his hymns on Mary's ear in vain ; 
 With brightening smiles the Vision hung 
 O'er the rapt poet while he sung 
 More beauteous from the strain. 
 The songs he pour'd were sad and wild, 
 And while they would have sooth'd a child. 
 Who soon bestows his tears, 
 A deeper pathos in them lay 
 That would have moved a hermit gray, 
 Bow'd down with holy years. 
 One song he had about a Ship 
 That perish'd on the Main, 
 So woeful, that his Mary pray'd, 
 At one most touching pause he made, 
 To cease the hearse-like strain : 
 And yet, in spite of all her pain. 
 Implored him, soon as he obey'd, 
 To sing it once again. 
 With faltering voice then would he sing 
 Of many a well known far-oif thing, 
 Towers, castles, lakes, and rills; 
 
Canto 3. THE isle of palms. 91 
 
 Their names he gave not — conld not give- 
 But happy ye, he thought, who live 
 Among the Cambrian hills. 
 Then of their own sweet Isle of Palms, 
 Full many a lovely lay 
 He sung ; — and of two happy sprites 
 Who live and revel in delights 
 For ever, night and day. 
 And who, even of immortal birth, 
 Or that for Heaven have left this earth. 
 Were e'er more blest than they ? 
 
 But shall that bliss endure for ever ? 
 And shall these consecrated groves 
 Behold and cherish their immortal loves ? 
 Or must it come, the hour that is to sever 
 Those whom the Ocean in his wrath did spare ? 
 Awful that thought, and, like unto despair, 
 Oft to their hearts it sends an icy chill ; 
 Pain, death they fear not, come they when they will. 
 But the same fate together let them share; 
 For how could either hope to die resign'd. 
 If God should say, *' One must remain behind !" 
 Yet wisely doth the spirit shrink 
 From thought when it is death to think; 
 Or baply, a kind being turns 
 
^2 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CatltO 3. 
 
 To brighter Fiopes the sowl that mourns 
 In killing woe ; else many an eye, 
 Now glad, would weep its destiny. , 
 
 Even so it fares with them : they wish to live 
 Long on this island, lonely though it be. 
 Old age itself to them would pleasure give. 
 For lo! a sight, which it is heaven to see, 
 Down yonder hill comes glancing beauteously, 
 And with a silver voice most wildly sweet, 
 Flings herself, laughing, down before her parents 
 feet. 
 
 Are they in truth her parents ? — Was her birth 
 Not drawn from heavenly sire, and from the breast 
 Of some fair spirit, whose sinless nature glow'd 
 With purest flames, enamour'd of a God, 
 And gave this child to light in realms of rest; 
 Then sent her to adorn these island bowers, 
 To sport and play with the delighted hours, 
 Till call'd again to dwell among the blest ? 
 Sweet are such fancies : — but that kindling smile 
 Dissolves them all ! — Her native isle 
 This sure must be : If she in heaven were born, 
 What breath'd into her face 
 That winning human grace. 
 Now dim, now dazzling like the break of morn ? 
 
Canto S. THE ISLE OP PALMS. 93 
 
 For, like the timid light of infant day, 
 That oft, when dawning, seems to die away, 
 The gleam of rapture from her visage flies. 
 Then fades, as if afraid, into her tender eyes. 
 Open thy lips, thou blessed thing, again ! 
 And let thy parents live upon the sound; 
 No other music wish they till they die. 
 For never yet disease, or grief, or pain. 
 Within thy breast the living lyre hath found, 
 Whose chords send forth that touching melody. 
 Sing on ! Sing on ! It is a lovely air. 
 Well could thy mother sing it when a maid : 
 Yet strange it is in this wild Indian glade, 
 To list a tune thafr-breathes of nothing there, 
 A tune that by his mountain springs, 
 Beside his slumbering lambkins fair, 
 The Cambrian shepherd sings. 
 
 The air on her sweet lips hath died, 
 And as a harper, when his tune is play'd, 
 Pathetic though it be, with smiling brow 
 Haply doth careless fling his harp aside, 
 Even so regardlessly upstarteth now. 
 With playful frolic, the light-hearted maid. 
 As if with a capricious gladness, 
 She strove to mock the soul of sadness, 
 
94 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 3. 
 
 Then mourning through the glade. 
 
 Light as a falling leaf that springs 
 
 Away before the aephyr's wings, 
 
 Amid the verdure seems to lie 
 
 Of motion reft, then suddenly 
 
 With bird-like fluttering mounts on high, 
 
 Up yon steep hill's unbroken side, 
 
 Behold the Httle fairy glide. 
 
 Though free her breath, untired her limb, 
 
 For through the air she seems to swim, 
 
 Yet oft she stops to look behind 
 
 On them below ;— till with the wind 
 
 She flies again, and on the hill-top far 
 
 Shines like the spirit of the evening star. 
 
 Nor lingers long : as if a sight 
 
 Half-fear, half-wonder, urged her flight, 
 
 In rapid motion, winding still 
 
 To break the steepness of the hill, 
 
 With leaps, and springs, and outstretch'd arms, 
 
 More graceful in her vain alarms. 
 
 The child outstrips the Ocean gale, 
 
 In haste to tell her wondrous tale. 
 
 Her parent's joyful hearts admire, 
 
 Of peacock's plumes her glancing tire. 
 
 All bright with tiny suns. 
 
 And the gleamings of the feathery gold, 
 
Cantos. THE ISLE OP PALMS. 95 
 
 That play along each wavy fold 
 Of her mantle as she runs. 
 
 " What ails my child?" her mother cries, 
 Seeing the wildness in her eyes, 
 The wonder on her cheek ; 
 But fearfully she beckons still, 
 Up to her watch-tower on the hill, 
 Ere one word can she speak. 
 " My Father ! Mother ! quickly fly 
 " Up to the green-hill top with me, 
 " And tell me what you there descry ; 
 ** For a cloud hath fallen from the sky, 
 " And is sailing on the sea." 
 They wait not to hear that word again : 
 The steep seems level as the plain. 
 And up they glide with ease: 
 They stand one moment on the height 
 In agony, then bless the sight. 
 And drop upon their knees. 
 " A Ship !" — no more can Mary say, 
 " A blessed Ship !" and faints away.— 
 Not so the happy sight subdues 
 Fitz-Owen's heart; — he calmly views 
 The gallant vessel toss 
 Her prow superbly up and down, 
 
96 THE ISLE OF PALMS, CtmtO 3. 
 
 As if she wore the Ocean Crown ; 
 And now, exulting in the breeze, 
 With new- woke English pride he sees 
 St. George's blessed Cross. 
 
 Behold them now, the happy three. 
 Hang up a signal o'er the sea, 
 And shout with echoing sound, 
 While, gladden'd by her parents' bliss, 
 The child prints- many a playful kiss 
 Upon their hands, or, mad with glee, 
 Is dancing round and round. 
 Scarce doth the thoughtless infant know 
 V» by thus their tears like rain should flow, 
 Yet she must also weep ; 
 Such tears as innocence doth shed 
 Upon its undisturbed bed. 
 When dreaming in its sleep. 
 And oft, and oft, her father presses 
 Her breast to his, and bathes her tresses, 
 Her sweet eyes, and fair brow. 
 *' How beautiful upon the wave 
 " The vessel sails, who comes to save ! 
 " Fitting it was that first she shone 
 " Before the wondering eyes of one, 
 *' So beautiful as thou. 
 
Canto 3. the isle of palms. 97 
 
 " See how before the wind she goes, 
 
 ** Scatteriug the waves hke meltiug snows! 
 
 " Her course with glory fills 
 
 '* The sea for many a league ! — Descending, 
 
 " She stoopeth now into the vale, 
 
 " Now, as more freshly blows the gale, 
 
 " She mounts in triumph o'er the watery hills. 
 
 " Oh! whither is she tending? 
 
 *' She holds in sight yon shelter'd bay; 
 
 '* As for her crew, how blest are they ! 
 
 " See ! how she veers around ! 
 
 " Back whirl the waves with louder sound ! 
 
 " And now her prow points to the land : 
 
 " For the Ship, at her glad lord's command, 
 
 " Doth well her helm obey." 
 
 They cast their eyes around the isle 
 But what a change is there! 
 For ever fled that lonely smile 
 That lay on earth and air. 
 That made its haunts so still and holy, 
 Almost for bliss too melancholy, 
 For life too wildly fair. 
 Gone — gone is all its loneliness, 
 And with it much of loveliness 
 Into each deep glen's dark recess^ 
 
98 THE ISIE OF PALMS. Cunto 3. 
 
 The day-shine poms like rain, 
 
 So strong and sudden is the light 
 
 Reflected from that wonder bright, » 
 
 Now tilting o'er the Main. 
 
 Soon as the thundering cannon spoke, 
 
 The voice of the evening-gtin, 
 
 The spell of the enchantment broke, 
 
 Like dew beneath the sun. 
 
 Soon shall they hear th' unwonted cheers 
 
 Of these delighted mariners, 
 
 And the loud sound of the oar, 
 
 As bending back away they pull, 
 
 With measured pause, most beautiful, 
 
 Approaching to the shore. 
 
 For her yards are bare of man and sail, 
 
 Nor moves the giant to the gale j 
 
 But, on the Ocean's breast. 
 
 With storm-proof cables, stretching far, 
 
 There lies the stately Ship of War ; 
 
 And glad is she of rest. 
 
 Ungrateful ye ! and will ye sail away, 
 And leave your bower to flourish and decay, 
 Without one parting tear ? 
 Where you have slept, and loved, and pray'd 
 And with your smiling infant play'd 
 
Canto 3. THE isle op palms. 99 
 
 For many a blessed year ! 
 
 No ! not in vain that bower bath shed 
 
 Its blossoms o'er your marriage-bed, 
 
 Nor the sweet Moon look'd down in vain, 
 
 Forgetful of her heavenly reign, 
 
 On them whose pure and holy bliss 
 
 Even beautified that wilderness. 
 
 To every rock, and glade, and dell. 
 
 You now breathe forth a sad farewell. 
 
 " Say ! wilt thou ever murmur on 
 
 *' With that same voice when we are gone, 
 
 " Beloved stream! — Ye birds of light ! 
 
 " And in your joy as musical as bright, 
 
 " Still will you pour that thrilling strain, 
 
 " Unheard by us who sail the distant main? 
 
 ** We leave our nuptial bower to you : 
 
 *' There still your harmless loves renew, 
 
 " And there, as they who left it, blest, 
 
 " The loveliest ever build your nest. 
 
 " Farewell once more — for now and ever ! 
 
 " Yet, though unhoped-for mercy sever 
 
 "Our lives from thee, where grief might come at 
 
 last ; 
 '* Yet whether chain'd in tropic calms, 
 <' Or driven before the blast, 
 " Most surely sliall ouv spirits never 
 '< Forget the Isle of Palms." 
 
100 THE 181^ OF PALMS. CatltO 3. 
 
 " What means the Ship ?» Fitz-Owen cries, 
 And scarce can trust his startled eyes, 
 " While safely she at anchor swings, 
 " Why doth she thus expand her wings ? 
 ** She will not surely leave the bay, 
 " Where sweetly smiles the closing day, 
 " As if it tempted her to stay, 
 ** O cruel Ship ! 'tis even so : 
 ** No sooner come than in haste to go. 
 " Angel of bliss! and fiend of wo!" — 
 —" Oh ! let that God who brought her liere, 
 " My husband's wounded spirit cheer I 
 " Mayhap the ship for months and years 
 ** Hath been among the storms, and fears 
 *' Yon lowering cloud, that on the wave 
 " FHngs down the shadow of a grave ; 
 •* For well thou know'st the bold can be 
 " By shadovi^s daunted, when they sail the sea. 
 *' Think, in our own lost Ship, when o'er our head 
 " Walk'd the sweet Moon in unobscured light, 
 " How oft the sailors gazed with causeless dread 
 " On her, the glory of the innocent night, 
 " As if in those still hours of heavenly joy, 
 ** They saw a spirit smiling to destroy. 
 " Trust that, when morning brings her light, 
 " The sun will shew a glorious sight^ 
 
Cantos. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 101 
 
 " This very Ship in joy returning 
 
 " With outspread sails and ensigns burning, 
 
 " To quench in bliss our causeless mourning." 
 
 — " O Father ! look with kinder eyes 
 
 " On me," — the Fairy-infant cries. 
 
 " Though oft thy face hath look'd most sad, 
 
 ** At times when I was gay and glad, 
 
 " These are not like thy other sighs. 
 
 " But that I saw niy Father grieve, 
 
 " Most happy when yon thing did leave 
 
 " Our shores, was I : — Mid waves and wind, 
 
 *' Where, Father ! could we ever find 
 
 " So sweet an island as our own ? 
 
 " And so we all would think, I well believe, 
 
 " Lamenting, when we look'd behind, 
 
 '* That the Isle of Palms was gone." 
 
 Oh blessed child ! each artless tone 
 Of that sweet voice, thus plaintively 
 Breathing of comfort to thyself unknown, 
 Who feelest not how beautiful thou art. 
 Sinks like an anthem's pious melody 
 Into thy father's agitated heart, 
 And makes it calm and tranquil^s thy own. 
 A shower of kisses bathes thy smiling face. 
 And thou, rejoicing once again to hear 
 
102 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CatltO 3 
 
 The voice of love so pleasant to thine ear, 
 
 Thorough the brake, and o'er the lawn, 
 
 Bounding along like a sportive fawn, 
 
 With laugh and song renew*st thy devious race ; 
 
 Or round them, like a guardian sprite, 
 
 Dancing with more than mortal grace. 
 
 Steepest their gazing souls in still delight. 
 
 For how could they, thy parents, see 
 
 Thy innocent and fearless glee, 
 
 And not forget, but one short hour agp, 
 
 When the Ship sail'd away, how bitter was their woe • 
 
 — Most like a dream it doth appear, 
 
 When she, the vanish'd Ship, was here : — 
 
 A glimpse of joy, that, while it shone. 
 
 Was surely passing-sweet:— now it is goue, 
 
 Not worth one single tear. 
 
THE 
 
 ISLE OF PALMS 
 
 CANTO FOURTH. 
 
 A SUMMER Night descends in balm 
 
 On the orange-bloon), and the stately Palm, 
 
 Of that romantic steep, 
 
 Where, silent as the silent hour, 
 
 'Mid the soft leaves of their Indian bower, 
 
 Three happy spirits sleep. 
 
 And we will leave them to themselves, 
 
 To the moon and the stars, these happy elves, 
 
 To the murmuring wave, and the zephyr's wing, 
 
 That dreams of gentlest joyance bring 
 
 To bathe their slumbering eyes ; 
 
 And on the moving clouds of night. 
 
 High o'er the main will take our flight, 
 
 Where beauteous Albion lies. 
 
 Wondrous, and strange, and fair, I ween, 
 
 The sounds, the forms, the hues have been 
 
 Of these delightful groves ; 
 
 And mournful as the melting sky, 
 
104 THE ISLE OP PALMS. Cunto 4. 
 
 Or a faint-remember'd melody, 
 
 The story of their loves. 
 
 Yet though they sleep, those breathings wild, 
 
 That told of the Fay-like sylvan child, 
 
 And of them who live in lonely bliss, 
 
 Like bright flowers of the wilderness, 
 
 Happy and beauteous as the sky 
 
 That views them with a loving eye. 
 
 Another tale I have to sing, 
 
 Whose low and plaintive murmuring 
 
 JMay well thy heart beguile, 
 
 And when thou weep'st along with me, 
 
 Through tears no longer mayst thou see 
 
 That fairy Indian Isle. 
 
 Among the Cambrian hills we stand ! 
 -By dear compulsion chain'd unto the strand 
 Of a still Lake, yet sleeping in the midst, 
 The thin blue mist that beautifies the morning: 
 Old Snowdon's gloomy brow the sun hath kiss'd, 
 Till, rising hke a giant from his bed. 
 High o'er the mountainous sea he lifts his head, 
 The loneliness of Nature's reign adorning 
 With a calm majesty and pleasing dread. 
 A spirit is singing from the coves 
 Yet dim and dark ; that spirit loves 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 105 
 
 To sing unto the Dawn, 
 
 Wlien first he sees the shadowy veil. 
 
 As if by some slow-stealing gale, 
 
 From her fair face withdrawn. 
 
 How the Lake brightens while we gaze ! 
 
 Impatient for the flood of rays 
 
 That soon will bathe its breast: 
 
 Where rock, and hill, and cloud, and sky^ 
 
 Even like its peaceful self, will lie 
 
 Ere long in perfect rest. 
 
 The dawn hath brighten'd into day ; 
 
 Blessings be on yon crescent-bay 
 
 Beloved in former years ! 
 
 Dolbardan! at this silent hour. 
 
 More solemn far thy lonely tower 
 
 Unto my soul appears, 
 
 Than when, in days of roaming youth, 
 
 I saw thee first, and scarce could tell 
 
 If thou wert frowning there in truth, 
 
 Or only raised by Fancy's spell, 
 
 An airy tower 'mid an unearthly dell. 
 
 O! wildest Bridge, by human hand e'er framed! 
 If so thou mayst be named : 
 Thou! who for many a year hast stood 
 Cloth'd with the deep-green moss of age, 
 
 F 
 
'' 1<^6 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Cant» 4. 
 
 i As if tliy tremulous length were living wood, 
 
 I Sprung from the bank i*n either side, 
 : Despising, with a careless pride, 
 
 The tumults of the wintry flood, 
 And hill- born tempest's rage. 
 Each flower upon thy moss I know, 
 Or think I know ; like things they seem 
 Fair and unchanged of a returning dream ! 
 While underneath, the peaceful flow 
 Of the smooth river to my heart 
 Brings back the thoughts that long ago 
 
 II felt, when forced to part 
 
 From the deep calm of Nature's reign, 
 To walk the world's loud scenes again. 
 And let us with that river glide 
 Around yon hillock's verdant side j 
 And lo ! a gleam of sweet surprise, 
 Like sudden sunshine, warms thine eyes, 
 Wliite as the spring's uumelted snow. 
 That lives though winter storms be o'er, 
 A cot beneath the mountain's brow 
 Smiles tbroitgh its shading sycamore- 
 The silence of the morning air 
 Persuades our hearts to enter there. 
 In dreanjs all quiet filings we love ; 
 And sure no star that lies above 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 107 
 
 Cradled in clouds, that also sleep, 
 Enjoys a calm more liusht and deep 
 Than doth this slumbering cell : 
 Yea ! like a star it looketh down 
 In pleasure from its mountain-throne. 
 On its own little dell. 
 
 A lovelier form now meets mine eye, 
 Than the loveliest cloud that sails the sky j 
 And human feelings bl«id 
 With the pleasure horn of the glistening air, 
 As in our dreams uprises fair 
 The face of a dear friend. 
 A vision glides before my brain, 
 Like her who lives beyond the Main ! 
 Breathing delight, the beauteous flower 
 That Heaven had raised to grace this bovver 
 To me this field is holy ground ! 
 Her voice is speaking in the sound 
 That cheers the streamlet's bed. 
 Sweet Maiden ! — side by side we stand, 
 While gently moves beneath my hand 
 Her soft and silky head. 
 A moment's pause ! — and as I look 
 On the silent cot, and the idle brook, 
 And the face of the quiet day, 
 
lOS THS ISLE OP PALMS. Cunto 4. 
 
 I know from all that many a year 
 
 Hath slowly past in sorrow here, 
 
 Since Mary went awa}'. 
 
 But that wreath of sraoke now melting thin, 
 
 Tells that some being dwells within j 
 
 And tiie balmy breath that stole 
 
 From the rose-tree, ^nd jasmin, clustering wide, 
 
 O'er all the dwelling's blooming side, 
 
 Tells that whoe'er doth there abide, 
 
 Must have a gentle soul. 
 
 Then gently breathe, and softly tread. 
 As if thy steps were o'er the dead ! 
 Break not the slumber of the air. 
 Even by the whisper of a prayer, 
 But in thy spirit let there be 
 A silent *' Benedicile !" 
 Thine eye fails on the vision bright. 
 As she sits amid the lonely light 
 That gleams from her cotta^e-'iearth ; 
 O ! fear not to yaze on her with love ! 
 For, though these looks are from above, 
 She is a form of earth. 
 In the silence of her long distress, 
 She sits with pious stateline^s j 
 As if she felt the eye of God 
 
Canton. T«E ISLE OP palms. 1 
 
 Were on her childless lone abode. 
 
 While her lips move with silent vows, 
 
 With saintly grace the phantom bows 
 
 Over a Book spread open on her knee. 
 
 O blessed Book ! such thoughts to wake! 
 
 It tells of Him who for our sake 
 
 Died on the cross, — Our Saviour's History. 
 
 How beauteonsly hath sorrow shed 
 
 Its mildness round her aged head ! 
 
 How beauteously her sorrow lies 
 
 In the solemn light of her faded eyes! 
 
 And lo I a faint and feeble trace 
 
 Of liope yet lingers on her face, 
 
 That she may yet embrace again 
 
 Her child, returning from the Main ; 
 
 For the brooding dove shall leave her nest, 
 
 Sooner than hope a mother's breast. 
 
 Her long-lost child may still survive ! 
 That thought hath kept her wasted heart alive ; 
 And often, to herself unknown. 
 Hath mingled with the midnight sigh, 
 When she breathed, in a voice of agony, 
 "Now every hope is gone !" 
 'Twas this that gave her strength to look 
 On the mossy banks of the singing brook. 
 
liO THE ISLE OF PALMS. Cnnto 4, 
 
 Where Mary oft had play'd ; 
 
 And duly, at one stated hour, 
 
 To go in calmness to the bovver 
 
 Built in her favourite glade. 
 
 'Twas this that made her, ev^ry morn, 
 
 As she bless'd it, bathe the ancient thorn 
 
 With water from the spring; 
 
 And gently tend each flowret's stalk, 
 
 For she call'd to mind who loved to walk 
 
 Through their fragrant blossoming. 
 
 Yea ! the voice of hope oft touch'd her ear 
 
 From the hymn of the lark that caroll'd clear, 
 
 Through (he heart of the silent sky. 
 
 " Oil ! such was my Mary's joyful strain ! 
 
 " And such she 'uay haply sing again 
 
 " Before her Mather die." 
 
 Thus hath she lived for seven long years, 
 
 With gleams of comfort tiirough her tears ; 
 
 Thus iiath that beauty to her face been given ! 
 
 And thus, thousjh silver-gray her hair. 
 
 And pale her cheek, yet is she fair 
 
 As any Child of Heaven. 
 
 Yet, though she thus in calmness sit, 
 Full many a dim and ghastly fit 
 Across her brain hath roll'd : 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 1 
 
 Oft hath shfi swoon'd away from pain , 
 
 And when her senses came again, 
 
 Her heart was icy-cold. 
 
 Hard hath it been for her to bear 
 
 The dreadful silence of the air 
 
 At night, around her bed ; 
 
 When her waking thoughts through the daVkuer 
 
 grew 
 Hideous as dreams, and for truth she knew 
 That her dear child was dead. 
 Things loved before seem alter'd quite, 
 The sun himself yields no delight. 
 She hears not the neighbouring waterfall, 
 Or, if she hear, the tones recal 
 The thought of her, who once did sing 
 So sweetly to its murmuring. 
 No summer-gale, no winter-blast, 
 By day or night o'er her cottage pass'd, 
 If her restless soul did wake, 
 That brought not a Ship befor her eyes ; 
 Yea ! often dying shrieks and cries 
 Sail'd o'er Llanberris Lake, 
 Though, far as the charra'd eye could view, 
 Upon the quiet earth it lay, 
 I^e the Moon amid the heavenly way, 
 As bright and silent too. 
 
tl% THE ISLE OF PALMS. Canto 4. 
 
 Hatli she no friend whose heart may share 
 With her the burthen of despair, 
 And by her earnest, soothing voice, 
 Bring back the image of departed joys 
 So vividly, that reconciled 
 To the drear silence of her cot. 
 At times she scarcely miss her child? 
 Or, the wild raving of the sea forgot. 
 Hear nought amid the calm profound. 
 Save Mary's voice, a soft and silver sound? 
 No! seldom human footsteps come 
 Unto h^r childless widow'd home j 
 Ko friend like this e'er sits beside her fire : 
 For still doth selfish happiness 
 Keep far away from real distress. 
 Loth to approach, and eager to retire. 
 The vales are wide, the torrents deep, 
 Dark are the nights, the mountains steep, 
 And many a cause, without a name, 
 Will from our spirits hide the blame, 
 When, thinking of ourselves, we cease 
 To think upon another's peace ; 
 Though one short hour to sorrow given, 
 Would cheer the gloom, and win the applause of 
 
 Heaven. , "^ 
 
 Yet, v^eu by chance they meet lier on the hill, 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. IK 
 
 Or lonely wandering by the sullen rill, 
 
 By its wild voice to dim seclusion led, 
 
 The shepherds linger on their way, 
 
 And nnto God in silence pray, 
 
 To bless her hoary head. 
 
 In church-yard on the sabbath- day 
 
 They all make room for her, even they 
 
 Whose tears are falling down in showers 
 
 Upon the fading funeral flowers, 
 
 Which they have planted o'er their children's clay. 
 
 And though her faded cheeks be dry, 
 
 Her breast unraov'd by groan or sigh. 
 
 More piteous is one single smile 
 
 Of hers, than many a tear ; 
 
 For she is wishing all the while 
 
 That her head were lying here ; 
 
 Since her dear daughter is no more, 
 
 Drown'd in the sea, or buried on the shore, 
 
 A sudden thought her brain hath cross'd 
 
 And in that thought all woes are lost, 
 
 Though sad and wild it be : 
 
 Why must she still, from year to year. 
 
 In lonely anguish linger here ? 
 
 Let her go, ere she die, unto the coast, 
 
 (J 
 And dwell beside the sea ; 
 
 F 2 
 
jii THE ISLE OF PALMS, Canto 4. 
 
 The sea that toreber child away, 
 
 When glad would she have been to stay 
 
 ;lu awful comfort to her soul 
 
 To hear the sleepless Ocean roll ! 
 
 To dream, that on his boundless breast, 
 
 Somewhere lier long-wept child might rest ; 
 
 On some fair island wreck'd,yet blest 
 
 Even as the sunny wave. 
 
 Or, if indeed her child is drown'd, 
 
 Tor ever let her drink the sound 
 
 That day and night still murmurs round 
 
 Her Mary's distant grave. 
 
 —She will not stay another hour ; 
 
 Her feeble limbs with youthful power 
 Now feel eudow'd ; she hath ta'en farewell 
 
 Of her native stream, and hill and dell ; 
 
 And with a solemn tone 
 
 Upon the bower implores a blessing, 
 
 Where often she had sate caressing 
 
 Her, who she deems, is now a saint in Heaven. 
 
 Upon her hearth the fire is dead, 
 
 The smoke in air hath vanished ; 
 
 The last long lingering look is given, 
 
 The shuddering start,— the inward groan,- 
 
 Atid the Pilgrim ok her way hath gone. 
 
Canto 4,. THE ISLE OF PAT.MS. 11 > 
 
 Behold her on the lone sea-shore, 
 Listening inito the hollow roar 
 That with eternal thunder, far and wide, 
 Clothes the black-heaving Main! she stands 
 Upon the cold and moisten'd sands, 
 Nor in that deep trance sees the quickly-flowing tide 
 She feels it is a dreadful noise, 
 That in her bowed soul destroys 
 A Mother's hope, though blended with her life ; 
 But surely she hath lost her child, 
 For how could one so weak and mild 
 Endure the Ocean's strife, 
 Who, at this moment of dismay. 
 Howls like a monster o'er his piey ! 
 But the tide is rippling at her feet, 
 And the murmuring sound, so wildly sweet. 
 Dispels these torturing dreams : 
 Oh ! once again the sea behold, 
 O'er all its wavy fields of gold, 
 The playful sun-light gleams. 
 These little harmless waves so fair, 
 Speak not of sorrov^ or despair ; 
 How soft the zephyr's breath ! 
 It sings like joys ewn chosen sound; 
 While life and pleasure dance around; 
 Why must tliou muse on death ? 
 Here even the timid child might come, > 
 
116 THE ISLE OP PALM». CcUltO 4. 
 
 To dip her small feet in the foam ; 
 
 And, laughing as she view'd 
 
 The billows racing to the shore, 
 
 Lament when their short course was o'er, 
 
 Pursuing and pursued. 
 
 How calmly floats the white sea-mew 
 
 Amid the billows' verdant hue ! 
 
 How calmly mounts into the air, 
 
 As if the breezes blew her there ! 
 
 How calmly on the sand alighting, 
 
 To dress her silken plumes delighting! 
 
 See ! how these tiny vessels glide 
 
 With all sails set, in mimic pride, 
 
 As they were ships of war. 
 
 All leave the idle port to-day. 
 
 And with oar and sheet the sunny bay 
 
 Is glancing bright and far. 
 
 She sees the joy, but feels it not : 
 If e'er her child should be forgot 
 For one short moment of oblivious sleep, 
 It seems a wrong to one so kind, 
 "Whose mother, left on earth behind, 
 Hath nought to do but weep. 
 For, wandering in her sohtude, 
 Tears seem to her the natural food 
 
fkrntoA* THE ISLE OF PALMS. 117 
 
 Of widow'd childless age ; 
 
 And bitter though these tears must be, 
 
 Which falling there is none to see, 
 
 Her anguish they assuage. 
 
 A calm succeeds the storm of grief, 
 
 A settled calm, that brings relief, 
 
 And half partakes of pleasure, soft and mild ^ 
 
 For the spirit, that is sore distrest, 
 
 At length when wearied into rest, 
 
 Will slumber like a child. 
 
 And then, in spite of all her woe, 
 
 The bliss, that charm'd her long ago. 
 
 Bursts on her like the day. 
 
 Her child, she feels, is living still. 
 
 By God and angels kept from ill 
 
 On some isle far away. 
 
 It is not doom'd that she must mourn 
 
 For ever j — One may yet return 
 
 Who soon will dry her tears: 
 
 And now that seven long years are flown. 
 
 Though spent in anguish and alone, 
 
 How short the time appears! 
 
 She looks upon the billowy Main, 
 
 And the parting-day returns again ; 
 
 Each breaking wave she knows; 
 
 And when shejistens to the tide, 
 
118 THE ISLE OF I'ALMS. CantO 4,. 
 
 Her child seems standing by her side j 
 
 So like the past it flows. 
 
 She starts to hear the city-bell ; 
 
 So toll'd it when they wept farewell ! 
 
 She thinks the self- same smoke and cloud 
 
 The city domes and turrets shroud ; 
 
 The same keen flash of ruddy fire 
 
 Is burning on the lofty spire, 
 
 The grove of masts is standing there 
 
 Unchanged, with all their ensigns fair; 
 
 The same the stir, the tumult, and the hum, 
 
 As from the city to the shore they come. 
 
 Day after day, along the beach she roams, 
 And evening finds her there, when to their homes 
 All living things have gone. 
 No terrors hath the surge or storm 
 For her; — on glides the aged form. 
 Still restless and alone. 
 Familiar unto eveiy eye 
 She long hath been : her low deep sigh 
 Hath touch'd with pity many a thoughtless breast ; 
 And prayers, unheard by her, are given, 
 That in its mercy watchful Heaven 
 Would send the aged rest. 
 As on the smooth and hardened sand^ 
 
Canto 4. the isle of pa.l>is. 
 
 In many a gay and rosy band, 
 
 Gathering rare shells, delighted children stray, 
 
 With pitying gaze they pass along, 
 
 And hush at once the shout and song, 
 
 When they chance to cross her way. 
 
 The strangers, as they idly pace 
 
 Al ong the beach, if her they meet, 
 
 No more regard the sea : her face 
 
 Attracts them by its solemn grace, 
 
 So mournful, yet so sweet. 
 
 The boisterous sailor passes by 
 
 With softer step, and o'er his eye j 
 
 A haze will pass most like unto a tear 
 
 For he hath heard, that, broken-hearted^ 
 
 Long, long ago, that mother parted 
 
 With her lost daughter here. 
 
 Such kindness soothes her soul, I ween, 
 
 As through the harbour's busy scene, 
 
 She passes weak and slow. 
 
 A comfort sad it brings to see 
 
 That ot'.iers pity her, though free 
 
 Themselves from care or woe. 
 
 The playful voice of streams and rilb, 
 The echo of the cavern'd hills, 
 The murmur of the trees, 
 
1«0 THE ISLE OP PALMS. CmtO 4,. 
 
 The bleat of sheep, the song of bird, 
 
 Within her sonl no more are heard j 
 
 There, sound for aye the seas. 
 
 Seldom she hears the ceaseless din 
 
 That stirs the busy port Within 
 
 A murmur dwells, that drowns all other sound: 
 
 And oft, when dreaming of her child, 
 
 Her tearful eyes are wandering wild, 
 
 Yet nought behold around. 
 
 But hear and see she must this day; 
 
 Ffer sickening spirit must obey 
 
 The flashing and the roar 
 
 That burst from fort, and ship, and tower, 
 
 W'hile clouds of gloomy splendour lower 
 
 O'er city, sea, and shore. 
 
 The pier-head, with a restless crowd, 
 
 5eeras all aiive ; there, voices loud 
 
 Dft raise the thundrous cheer, 
 
 IVhile, from on board the ships of war, 
 
 The music bands both near and far, 
 
 ire playing, faint or clear. 
 
 The bells ring quick a joyous peal, 
 
 rill the very spires appear to feel 
 
 The joy that stirs throtighout their tapering height j 
 
 fen thousand flags and pendants fly 
 
 Abroad, like meteors in the sky, 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 
 
 So beautiful and bright. 
 And, while the storm of pleasure rave* 
 Through each tumultuous street. 
 Still strikes the ear one darling tune^ 
 Sung hoarse, or warbled sweet ; 
 Well doth it suit the First of June, 
 '* Britannia rule the Waves'." 
 
 What Ship is she that rises slow 
 Above the horizon? — White as snow, 
 And covered as she sails 
 By the bright sunshine, fondly woo'd 
 In her calm beauty, and pursued 
 By all the Ocean gales ? 
 Well doth she know this glorious morn, 
 And by her subject waves is borne, 
 As in triumphal pride: 
 And now the gazing crowd descry, 
 Distinctly floating on the sky, 
 Her pendants long and wide. 
 The outward forts she now hath pass'd ; 
 Loftier and loftier towers her mast; 
 You almost hear the sound 
 Of the billows i ushing past her sides, 
 As giant-like she calmly glides 
 Through the dwindled ships around. 
 
122 THE ISLE OP PALMS. Canto ^. 
 
 Saluting thunders rend the Main ! 
 
 Short silence ! — and they roar again, 
 
 And veil her in a cloud : 
 
 Then up leap all her fearless crew, 
 
 And cheer till shore, and city too, • 
 
 AVith echoes answer loud. 
 
 In peace and friendship doth she come, 
 
 Rejoicing to approach her home, 
 
 After absence long and far : 
 
 Yet with like calnaness would she go, 
 
 Exulting to behold the foe. 
 
 And break the line of war. 
 
 While all the noble Ship admire, 
 Why doth One from the crowd retire. 
 Nor bless the stranger bright ? 
 So look'd the Ship that bore away 
 Her weeping child ! She dares not stay. 
 Death-sickening at the sight. 
 Like a ghost, she wanders up and down 
 Throughout the still deserted town. 
 Wondering, if in that noisy throng. 
 Amid the shout, the dance, the song. 
 One wretched heart there may not be, 
 That hates its own mad revelry ! 
 One mother, who hath lost her child, 
 
Canto i. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 133 
 
 Yet in her grief is reconciled 
 
 To such unmeaning sounds as these ! 
 
 Yet this may be the mere disease 
 
 Of grief with her: for why destroy 
 
 The few short hours of human joy, 
 
 Though Reason own them not ? — ** Shout on," she 
 
 cries, 
 " Ye thouglitless, happy souls! A mother's sighs 
 " Must not your bliss profane. 
 " Yet blind must be that mother's heart 
 " Who loves thee, beauteous as thou art, 
 " Thou Glory of the Main !" 
 
 Towards the church-yard see the Matron turn ! 
 There surely she in solitude may mourri, 
 Tormented not by such distracting noise. 
 But there seems no peace for her this dav. 
 For a crowd advances on her way, 
 As if no spot were sacred from their joys. 
 —Fly not that crowd! for Heaven is there ! 
 [t breathes around thee in the air, 
 Even now, when unto dim despair 
 rhy heart was sinking fast : 
 \. cruel lot hath long been thine ; 
 3ut now let thy face with rapture shine, 
 For bliss awaiteth thee divine, 
 
Ij24 THE isLK OF PALMS. Canto 4. 
 
 And all thy woes are past. 
 Dark words she hears among the crowd, 
 Of a ship that hath on board 
 Three Christian sonIs,who on the coast 
 Of some wild land were wreck'd long years ago^ 
 Wlien all but they were in a tempest lost, 
 And now by Heaven are rescued from their woe, 
 And to their country wondrously restored. 
 The name, the blessed name, she hears. 
 Of that beloved Youth, 
 Whom once she called her son j but feare 
 To listen more, for it appears 
 Too heavenly for the truth. 
 >And they are speaking of a child. 
 Who looks more beautifully wild 
 Than pictured fairy in Arabian tale ; 
 Wondrous her foreign garb, they say, 
 Adorn'd with starry plumage gay, 
 While round her head tall feathers play, 
 And dance with every gale. 
 
 Breathless upon the beach she stands. 
 And lifts to Heaven her clasped hands. 
 And scarcely dares to turn her eye 
 On yon gay barge fast-rushing by. 
 The dashing oar disturbs her brain 
 
Canto 4. THE ISLE OF PALMS. 125 
 
 With hope, that sickens into pain. 
 
 The boat appears so wondrous fair, 
 
 Her daughter must be sitting there ! 
 
 And as her gilded prow is dancing 
 
 Through the land-swell, and gaily glancing 
 
 Beneath the sunny gleams, 
 
 Her heart must own, so sweet a sight, 
 
 So form'd to yield a strange delight, 
 
 She ne'er felt even in dreams. 
 
 Silent the music of the oar ! 
 
 The eager sailors leap on shore, 
 
 And look, and gaze around. 
 
 If 'mid the crowd they may descry 
 
 A wife's, a child's, a kinsman's eye, 
 
 Or hear one family sound. 
 
 — No sailor, he, so fondly pressing 
 
 Yon fair child in his arms, 
 
 Her eyes, her Imiw, her bosom kissing, 
 
 And bidding her with many a blessing 
 
 To hush her vain alarms. 
 
 How fair that creature by his side, 
 
 Who fimiles with languid glee, 
 
 Slow-kindling from a mother's priJe? 
 
 Oh ! Thou alone niay'st be 
 
 The mother of that fairy child: 
 
 These tresses dark, these eyes eo wild, 
 
126 THE ISLE OF PALMS. ContO 
 
 That face with spirit beautified, 
 She owes them all to thee. 
 
 Silent and still the sailors stand, 
 To see the meeting strange that now befel. 
 Unwilling sighs their niJinly bosoms swell, 
 And o'er their eyes they draw the sunburnt hand, 
 To hide the tears that grace their cheeks so well. 
 They lift the aged Matron from her swoon, 
 And not one idle foot is stirring there ; 
 For unto pity melts the sailor soon, 
 And chief when helpless woman needs his care. 
 She wakes at last, and with a placid smile, 
 Such as a saint might on her death-bed give, 
 Speechless she gazes on her child awhile, - 
 Content to die since that dear one doth live. 
 And much they fear that she indeed will die ! 
 So cold and pale her cheek, so dim h# eye ; — 
 And when her voice returns, so like the breath 
 It sounds, the low and tremulous tones of death. 
 Mark her distracted daughter seize 
 Her clay-cold hands, and on her knees 
 Implore that God would spare her hoary head ; 
 For sure, through these last lingering years, j 
 By one so good, enough of tears 
 Hath long ere now been shed. 
 
Ca7ltO 4. THE ISLE OF PALMg. 127 
 
 The Fairy-child is weeping too ; 
 
 For though her happy heart can slightly know 
 
 What she hath never felt, the pang of woe, 
 
 Yet to the holy power of Nature true. 
 
 From her big heart the tears of pity flow, 
 
 As infant morning sheds the purest dew. 
 
 Nought doth Fitz-Owen speak : he takes 
 
 His reverend mother on his filial breast, 
 
 Nor fears that, when her worn-out soul finds rest 
 
 In the new sleep of undisturbed love. 
 
 The gracious God who sees them from above, 
 
 Will save the parent for her children's sakes. 
 
 Nor vain his pious hope : the strife 
 Of rapture ends and she returns to life, 
 With added beauty smiling in the lines 
 By age and sorrow left upon her face. 
 Her eye, everi now bedinnn'd with anguish, shines 
 With briglitenins glory, and a holy sense 
 In her husht soul ot heavenly providence. 
 Breathes o'er her bending frame a loftier grace. 
 — Her Mary tells in simple phrase, 
 Of wildest perils past in former days, 
 Of shipwreck scarce remember'd by herself: 
 Then will she speak of that delightful isle 
 Where loug they lived in love, and to the elf 
 
128 THE ISLE OF PALMS. CantO 4. 
 
 Now fondly clinging to her grandam's knee, 
 In all the love of quick won infancy, 
 Point with the triuuiph of a mother's smile. 
 The sweet child then will teli her tale 
 Of her own blossora'd bower, and palmy vale, 
 And birds with golden plumes, that sweetly sing 
 Tunes of their own, or borrow'd from her voice j 
 And, as she speaks, lo ! flits with gorgeous wing 
 Upon her outstretch'd arm, a fearless bird. 
 Her eye obeying, ere the call,;was heard, 
 And wildly warbles there the music of its joys. 
 
 Unto the blessed matron's eye 
 Ho vv changed seem now town, sea, and sky ! 
 She feels as if to youth restored, 
 Such fresh and beauteous joy is pour'd 
 O'er the green dancing waves, and shelly sand. 
 The crowded masts ^within the harbour stand. 
 Emblems of rest : and yon ships far away. 
 Brightening the entrance of the Crescent-bay, 
 Seem things the tempest never can destroy. 
 To longuig spirits harbingers of joy. 
 How sweet the music o'er the waves is borne, 
 In celebration of this glorious morn ! 
 Ring on, ye bells! most pleasant is your chime ; 
 And the quick flash that bursts along the shore. 
 
Canto 4» the isle of palm». 129 
 
 The volumed smoke, and city-shaking roar, 
 
 Her happy soul now feels to be sublime. 
 
 How fair upon the human face appears 
 
 A kindling smile ! how idle all our tears! 
 
 Short-sighted still the moisten'd eyes of sorrow: 
 
 To-day our woes can never end, 
 
 TInnk we ! — returns a long lost friend, 
 
 And we are blest to-morrow. 
 
 Her anguish, and her wish to die, 
 
 Now seem like worst impiety, 
 
 For many a year she hopeth now to live ; 
 
 And God, who sees the inmost breast, 
 
 The vain repining of the sore-distrest, 
 
 In mercy will forgive. 
 
 How oft, how long, and solemnly, 
 Fitz-Owen and his Mavy gaze 
 Ou her pale cheek, and sunken eye ! 
 Much alter'd smce those happy days, 
 When scarcely could themselves behold 
 One symptom faint that she was waxing old. 
 That evening of her life how bright! 
 But now seems falling fast the night. 
 Yet the Welch air will breathe like balm 
 Through all her wasted heart, the heavenly calm 
 That mid her native mountains sleeps for ever, 
 G 
 
I3f> THE ISLE OP PALMS CfintO i. 
 
 In the deep valcsj-even when tlie storms are roaring^ 
 
 High up among the cliffs : and that sweet river 
 
 That round the white walls of her cottage flows, 
 
 With gliding motion most like to repose, 
 
 \ quicker cirrrent to her blood restoring, 
 
 Will cheer her long before her eye-lids close. 
 
 And yonder cheek of rosy light, 
 
 Dark-clustering hair, and star-like eyes, 
 
 And Fairy-form, that wing'd witli rapture flics, 
 
 And voice more wild than songstress of the night 
 
 E'er pour'd unto the listening skies ; 
 
 Yon spirit, who, with her angel smile. 
 
 Shed Heaven around the lonely isle, 
 
 With Nature, and with Nature's art, 
 
 Will twine herself about the heart 
 
 Of her who hoped not for a grand-child's kiss ! 
 
 These looks will scare disease and pain, 
 
 Till in her wasted heart again 
 
 Life grow with new-born bliss. 
 
 Far is the city left behind, 
 And faintly-smihng through the soft-blue skies. 
 Like castled clouds the Cambrian hills arise : 
 Sweet the first welcome of the mountain- wind I 
 And ever nearer as they come, 
 Beneath the hastening shades of silent Even, 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. ISi 
 
 Some old familiar object meets their sight, 
 
 Thrilling their hearts with sorrowful delight, 
 
 Until through tears tliey hail their blessed home, 
 
 Bathed in the mist, confusing earth with heaven. 
 
 With solemn gaze the aged matron sees 
 
 The green roof laughing beneath greener trees ; 
 
 And thinks how happy she will live and die 
 
 Within that cot at last, beneath the eye 
 
 Of them long wept as perish'd in the seas. 
 
 And what feel they? with dizzy brain they look 
 
 On cot, field, mountain, garden, tree, and brook, 
 
 With none contented, although loving all 3 
 
 While deep-delighted memory, 
 
 By faint degrees, and silently. 
 
 Doth all their names recall. 
 
 And looking in her mother's face. 
 
 With smiles of most bewitching grace, 
 
 In a wild voice that wondering pleasure cahns, 
 
 Exclaims the child, " Is this home ours I 
 
 " Ah me! how like these lovely flowers 
 
 " To those I train'd upon the bowers 
 
 '* Of our own Isle of Palms !" 
 
 Husht now these island-bowers as death ! 
 And ne'er may human foot or breath, 
 Their dew disturb again : but not more still 
 
132 THE ISLE OF PALMS. Canto ♦. 
 
 Stand they, o'er-shadowed by their palmy hill, 
 
 Than this deserted cottago ' O'er the green, 
 
 Once smooth before the porch, rank weeds are seen, 
 
 Choking the feebler flowers : with blossoms hoar, 
 
 And verdant leaves, the nnpvnned eglantine • 
 
 In wanton beauty foldeth up the door. 
 
 And through t!ie clustering roses that entwine 
 
 The lattice-window, neat and trim before. 
 
 The setting sun's slant beams no longer shine. 
 
 The hive stands on the ivied tree, 
 
 But murmurs not one single bee ; 
 
 Frail looks t!ie osier seat, and grey, 
 
 None hath sat there for many a day ; 
 
 And the dial, hid in weeds and flowers, 
 
 Hath told, by none beheld, the solitary hours. 
 
 No birds that love the haunts of men. 
 
 Hop here, or through the garden sing ; 
 
 From the thick-matted hedge, the lonely wren 
 
 Flits rapid by on timid wing, 
 
 Even like a leaf by wandering zephyr moved. 
 
 But long it is since that sweet bird, 
 
 That twitters 'neath the cottage eaves, 
 
 Was here by listening morning heard : 
 
 For she, the summer songstress, leaves 
 
 The roof by laughter never stirr'd, 
 
 Still loving human life, and by it still beloved. 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 
 
 O ! wildest cottage of the wild ! 
 I see thee waking from thy breathless sleep ! 
 Scarcely distinguish'd from the rocky steep, 
 Hii»h o'er thy roof iu forms fantastic piled. 
 Moie beauteous art thou than of yore, 
 With joy all glistering after sorrow's gloom j 
 And they who in that paradise abide, 
 By sadness and misfortune beautified, 
 There brighter walk than o'er yon island-shore, 
 As loveliness wakes lovelier from the tomb. 
 Long mayst thou stand in sun and dew, 
 And spring thy faded flowers renew, 
 Unharm'd by frost or blight I 
 Witliout, the vvorulerof each eye, 
 Within, as hap}»y as the sky, 
 Encompass'd with .''elight. 
 —May thy old-age be calm and bright, 
 Thou grey-hair'd one ! — like some sweet night 
 Of winter, cold, but clear, and shining far 
 Through mists, with many a melancholy star. 
 — O fairy child ! what cau I wish for thee ? 
 Like a perennial flow'ret mayst thou be, 
 That spends its life in beauty and in bliss! 
 Soft on thee fall the breath of time, 
 And still retain in heavenly clime 
 The bloom tlmt charm'd iu this ! 
 
13* THE ISLE OP PALMS. <?aMfO 4i 
 
 O, happy Parents of so sweet a child, 
 Your share of grief already have you known j 
 But long as that fair spirit is your own, 
 To either lot you must be reconciled. 
 Dear was she in you palmy grove, * 
 
 When fear and sorrow mingled with your love, 
 And oft you wished that she had ne'er been born ; 
 While, in the most delightful air 
 Th' angelic infant sang, at times her voice, 
 That seem'd to make even lifeless things rejoice. 
 Woke, on a sudden, dreams of dim despair, 
 As if it breathed, " For me, an Orphan, mourn !" 
 Now can they listen when she sings 
 With mournful voice of mournful things, 
 Almost too sad to hear j 
 And when she chants her evening-hymn, 
 Glad smile their eyes, even as they swim 
 With many a gushing tear. 
 Each day she seems to them more bright 
 And beautiful,— a gleam of light 
 That plays and dances o'er the shadowy earth ! 
 It fadeth not in gloom or storm, — 
 For Nature charter'd that aerial form 
 In yonder fair Isle when she bless'd her birth ! 
 The Isle of Palms ! whose forests tower agam, 
 Darkening with solemn shade the face of heaven. 
 
Canto 4. the isle of palms. 155 
 
 Now far away they like the clouds are driven, 
 And as the passing night-wind dies my strain ! 
 
 KNI> OF THB ISLE OP PALMS. 
 
ANGLER'S TENT. 
 
 The moving accident is not my trade, 
 To curl the blood I have no ready arts ; 
 'Tis my delight alone in summer-shadef 
 To pipe a simple song to thinking hearts, 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 G 2 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The following Poem is the narrative of one day, 
 the pleasantest of many pleasant ones, of a little 
 Angling-excursion made three summers ago among 
 the mountains of Westmoreland, Lancashire, and 
 Cumberland. A tent, large panniers filled with its 
 furniture, with provisions, &c. were loaded upon 
 horses, and while the anglers, who separated every 
 morning, pursued each his own sport up the tor* 
 rents, were carried over the mountains to the ap- 
 pointed place by some lake or stream, where they 
 were to meet again in the evening. 
 
 In this manner they visited all the wildest and 
 most secluded scenes of the country. On the first 
 Sunday they passed among the hills, their tent was 
 pitched on tlie banks of West-Water, at the head 
 of that wild and solitary lake, which they had reach- 
 ed by the mountain-path that passes Barn-Moor 
 Tarn from Eskdale. Towards evening the inhabi- 
 tants of the valley, not exceeding half a dozen fa- 
 milies, with some too from the neighbouring gleng, 
 
140 
 
 drawn by the unusual appearance, came to visit the 
 strangers in their tent. Withont, the evening was 
 calm and beautiful ; within, were the gaiety and 
 kindness of simple mirth. At a late hour their 
 guests departed under a most refulgent moon that 
 lighted tiiem up the surrounding mountains, on 
 which they turned to hail with long-continued 
 shouts and songs the blazing of a huge fire, that was 
 hastily kindled at the door of the tent to bid them 
 a distant farewell. 
 
 The images and feelings of these fewh^ppy days, 
 and above all, of that delightful evening, the author 
 wished to preserve in poetry. What he has written, 
 while it serves to himself and his friends as a record 
 of past happiness, may, he hopes, without impro* 
 priety be offered to the public, since, if at all faith- 
 ful to its subject, it will have some interest with 
 those who delight in the wilder scenes of Nature, 
 and who have studied with respect and love the 
 character of their simple inhabitants. 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLER'S TENT. 
 
 The hush of bKss was on the sunny hills, 
 The clouds were sleeping on the silent sky, 
 We travelled in the midst of melody 
 Warbled around us from the mountain-rills. 
 The voice was like the glad voice of a friend 
 Murmuring a welcome to his happy homej 
 We felt its kindness with our spirits blend, 
 And said, '* This day no farther will we roam!" 
 The coldest heart that ever looked on heaven, 
 Had surely felt the beauty of that day, 
 And, as he paused, a gentle blessing given 
 To the sweet scene that tempted him to stay. 
 But we, who travelled through that region bright 
 Were joyful pilgrims under Nature's care. 
 From youth had loved the dreams of pure delight, 
 Descending on us through the lonely air, 
 When Heaven is clothed with smiles, and Earth as 
 Heaven is fair I 
 
142 THE angler's tent. 
 
 Seven lovely days had like a happy dream 
 
 Died in our spirits silently away, 
 
 Since Grassmere, waking to the morning ray, 
 
 Met our last lingering look with farewell gleam. 
 
 I may not tell what joy our beings filled, ^ 
 
 Wand'iing like shadows over plain and steep, 
 
 What beauteous visions lonely souls can build 
 
 When 'mid the mountain solitude they sleep. 
 
 I may not tell how the deep power of sound 
 
 Can back to life lon^-faded dreams recall, 
 
 Wiken lying mid the noise that lives around 
 
 Through the hush'd spirit flows a waterfall. 
 
 To thee, my Wordsworth!* whose inspired song 
 
 Comes forth in pomp from Nature's inner shrine, 
 
 To thee by birth-right such high tliemes belong, 
 
 The unseen grandeur of the eai th is thine ! 
 
 One lowlier simple strain ot human iove be mine. 
 
 How leapt our hearts, when from an airy height, 
 On which we paused for a swefet fountain's sake, 
 With green fields fading in a peaceful lake, 
 A deep-sunk vale burst sudden on our sight! 
 We felt as if at home ; a magic sound, 
 As from a spirit whom we must obey, 
 
 Mr* Woi-diworth accompanied the author on this excursion. 
 
fftE AN«1£R'S TBNT. 143 
 
 Bade us descend into the vale profound, 
 
 And in its silence pass the Sabbath-day. 
 
 The placid lake that rested far below, 
 
 Softly embosoming; another sky, 
 
 Still as we gazed assumed a lovelier »Iow, 
 
 And seem'd to send us looks of amity. 
 
 Our hearts were open to the gracious love 
 
 Of Nature, smiling like a happy bride ; 
 
 So following the still impulse from above, 
 
 Down the green slope we wind with airy glide, 
 
 And pitch our snowy tent on that fair water's side. 
 
 Ah me ! even now I see before me stand, 
 
 Among the verdant holly- boughs half hid, 
 
 The little radiant airy pyramid. 
 
 Like some wild dwelling built in Fairy land. 
 
 As silently as gathering cloud it rose. 
 
 And seems a cloud descended on the earth, 
 
 Disturbing not the Sabbath-day's repose. 
 
 Yet gently stirring at the quiet birth 
 
 Of every short-lived breeze : the sun-beams greet 
 
 The beauteous stranger in the lonely bay ; 
 
 Close to its shadingtree two streamlets meet, 
 
 With gentle glide, as weary of their play. 
 
 And in the liquid lustre of the lake 
 
 Its image sleeps, reflected far below; 
 
 Such image as the clouds of summer make, 
 
144 THE angler's tent. 
 
 Clear seen amid the waveless water's glow, 
 
 As slumbering infant still, and pure as April snow. 
 
 Wild though the dwelling seem, thus rising fair, 
 A sudden stranger 'mid the sylvan scene, , 
 
 One spot of radiance on surrounding green, 
 Human it is — and human souls are there ! 
 Look through that opening in the canvass wall, 
 Through which by fits the scarce-felt breezes play, 
 —Upon three happy souls thine eyes will fall. 
 The summer Iambs are not more blest than they I 
 On the green turf all motionless they lie. 
 In dreams romantic as the dri^ams of sleep. 
 The filmy air slow-glimmering on their eye. 
 And in their ear the murmur of the deep. 
 Or haply now by some wild winding brook, 
 Deep, silent pool, or waters rushing loud. 
 In thought they visit many a fairy nook 
 That rising mists in rainbow colours shroud, 
 And ply the Angler's sport involved in mountain- 
 cloud ! 
 
 Yes ! dear to us that solitary trade, 
 'Mid vernal peace in peacefulness pursued, 
 Through rocky glen, wild moor, and hanging wood, 
 White-flowering meadow, and romantic glade ! 
 
THE ANGLSR'S TENT. 145 
 
 The sweetest visions of our boyisli years 
 Come to oar spirits with a muruiuring tone 
 Of running waters, — and one stream appears, 
 Remember'd ali, tree, willow, bank, and stone! 
 How glad were we, when after sunny showers 
 Its voice came to ns issuing from the school ! 
 How fled the vacant, solitary hours, 
 By dancing rivulet, or silent pool ! 
 And still our sonls retained in manhood's prime 
 The love of joys our childish years that blest j 
 So now encircled by these hi!ls sublime. 
 We Anglers, wanderinn^ith a tranquil breast, 
 Build in this happy vale a fairy bower of rest! 
 
 Within that bower are strewed in careless guise. 
 
 Idle one day, the angler's simple gear j 
 
 Liines that, as fine as floatmg gossamer, 
 
 Dropt softly on the stream the silken flies; 
 
 The limber rod that shook its trembhng length, 
 
 Almost as airy as the line it threw. 
 
 Yet often bending in an arch of strength 
 
 When the tired salmon rose at last to view, 
 
 Now lightly leans across the rushy bed, 
 
 On which at night we dream of sports by day; 
 
 And, empty now, beside it close is laid 
 
 The goodly pannier framed of osiers gray; 
 
146 THE angler's tent. 
 
 And, maple bowl in which we wont to bring 
 The limpid water from the morning wave, 
 Or from some mossy and seqnester'd spring 
 To which dark rocks a grateful coolness gave, 
 Such as might Hermit use in solitary cave! « 
 
 And ne'er did Hermit, with a purer breast, 
 Amid the depths of silvan silence pray, 
 Than prayed we friends on that mild quiet day, 
 By God and man beloved, the day of rest! 
 All passions in our souls were luU'd to sleep, 
 Ev'n by the power of Nature's holy bliss j 
 While Innocence her watcn in peace did keep 
 Over the spirit's thoughtful happiness ! 
 We viev/'d the green earth with a loving look, 
 Like us rejoicing in the gracious sky ; 
 A voice came to us from the running brook 
 That seem'd to bi^athe a grateful melody. 
 Then all things seem'd embued with life and sense. 
 And as from dreams with kindling smiles to wake, 
 Happy in beauty and in innocence ; 
 While, pleased our inward quiet to partake, 
 Lay hush'd, as in a trance, the scarcely-breathing 
 lake. 
 
THE ANGLER'S TENT. lit 
 
 Yet think not, in this wild and fairy spot, 
 This Biingled happiness of earth and heaven, 
 Which to our hearts this Sabbath-day was given, 
 Think not, that far-off friends were quite forgot. 
 Hehn-crag arose before our half-closed eyes 
 With colours brighter than the brightening dove; 
 Beneath that guardian mount a *cottage lies 
 Encircled by the halo breathed from Love ! 
 And sweet that dwellingt rests upon the brow 
 (Beneath its sycamore) of Orest-hill, 
 As if it smiled on Windermere below, 
 Her green recesses an4 her islands still ! 
 Thns, gently-blended many a human thought 
 With those that peace and solitude supplied, 
 Till in our hearts the moving kindness wrought 
 With gradual influence, like a flowing tide 
 And for the lovely sound of human voice we sigh'd. 
 
 And hark ! a laugh, with voices blended, stole 
 Across the water, echoing from the shore ! 
 And during pauses short, the beath)g oar 
 Brings the glad music closer to the soul. 
 
 • At that time the residence of Mr. iyordsworth''s family, 
 ^ Tlie auther^s cottage en the bank-r of Windermere. 
 
148 THE angler's tent. 
 
 V 
 
 We leave our tent ; and lo ! a lovely sight 
 Glides like a living creatnre through the air, 
 For air the water seems thus passing bright, 
 A living creature beautiful and fair ! 
 Nearer it glides ; and now the radiant glow • 
 
 That on its radiant shadow seems to float. 
 Turns to a virgin band, a glorious shew, 
 Rowing with happy smiles a little boat. 
 Towards the tent their lingering course they steer, 
 And cheerful now up©n the shore they stand. 
 In maiden bashfulness, yet free from fear, 
 And by our side, gay-moving hand in hand, 
 Into our tent they go, a beauteous sister-band! 
 
 Scarce from our hearts had gone the sweet surprise, 
 Which this glad troop of rural maids awoke ', 
 Scarce had a more familiar kindness broke 
 From the mild lustre of tUeir smiling eyes. 
 Ere the tent seem d encircled by the i:uund 
 Of many voices ; in an instant stood 
 Men, women, children, all the circle round. 
 And with a friendly joy the strangers view'd. 
 Strange was it to behold this gladsome crowd 
 Our late so soHtary dwelling fill ; 
 And strange to hear their greetings mingling loud 
 Where ail before was undisturb'd and still. 
 
THE ANGLER'S TENT. 149 
 
 Yet was the stir delightful to our ear, 
 And moved to happiness our inmo>t blood. 
 The sudden change, the unexpected cheer, 
 Breakinjr like sunshine on a pensive mood, 
 This breath and voice of life in seeming solitude! 
 
 Har4 task it was in our small tent to find 
 Seats for our quickly gathered company ; 
 But in them al! was such a mirthful glee, 
 I ween they soon were seated to their mind! 
 Some viewing with a hesitating look 
 The panniers that contained our travelling fare, 
 On them at last their humble station took, 
 Pleased at the thought, and^^th a smiling air. 
 Some on our low-framed beds then chose their seat 
 Each maid the youth that loved her best beside, 
 While many a gentle look, and whisper sweet. 
 Brought to the stripling's face a gladsome pride, 
 .The playful children on the velvet green, 
 Soon as the fiist-felt bashfulness was fled. 
 Smiled to each other at the wondrous scene, 
 And whisper'd words they to each other said, 
 And raised in sportive fit the shining, golden head ' 
 
 Then did we learn that this our stranger tent, 
 Seen by the lake-side gleaming like a sail. 
 
150 THE angler's tent. 
 
 Had quickly spread o'er mountain and o'er val« 
 
 A gentle shock of pleased astonishment. 
 
 The lonely dwellers by the lofty rills, 
 
 Gazed iu surprise upon th'unwonted sight, 
 
 The wandering shepherds saw it from the hills, . 
 
 And quick descended from their airy height. 
 
 Soon as the voice of simple song and prayer 
 
 Ceased in the little chapel of the dell, 
 
 The congregation did in peace repair 
 
 To the lake-side, to view our wondrous cell. 
 
 While leaving, for one noon, both young and old. 
 
 Their cluster'd hamlets in this deep recess, 
 
 All join the throng, in conscious good-will bold, 
 
 Elate ^ smiling in |j^r Sabbath-dress, 
 
 A mingled various groupe of homely happiness*! 
 
 And thus our tent a joyous scene became, 
 Where loving hearts from distant vales did meet 
 As at some rural festival, and greet 
 Each other with glad voice and kindly name. 
 Here a pleased daughter to her father smiled, 
 With fresh atlection in her soften'd eyes j 
 He in return look'd back upon his child 
 With gentle start and tone of mild surprise : 
 And on his little grand-child, at her breast, 
 An old man's blessing and a kiss bestow'd, 
 
THE angler's tent. 151 
 
 Or to his cheek the lisping baby prest, 
 Light'ning the mother of her darUng load ; 
 While comely matrons, all sedately ranged 
 Close to their husbands' or their children's side, 
 A neighbour's friendly greeting interchanged, 
 And each her own with frequent glances eyed. 
 And raised her head in all her mother's harmless 
 pride. 
 
 Happy were we among such happy hearts ! 
 And to inspire with kindliness and love 
 Our simple guests, ambitiously we strove, 
 With novel converse and endearing arts ! 
 We talk'd to them, and mu<|if,they loved ^icar, 
 Of those sweet vales from which we late had come; 
 For though these vales are to each other near, 
 Seldom doth dalesmen leave their own dear home. 
 Then would we speak of many a wondrous sight 
 Seen in great cities, — temple, tower, and spire. 
 And winding streets at night-fall blazing bright 
 W^ith many a star-like lamp of glimmering fire. 
 The gray-hair'd men with deep attention heard, 
 Viewing the speaker with a solemn face, 
 While round our feet the playful children stirr'd, 
 And near their parents took their silent place, 
 Listening with looks where wonder breathed a 
 glowing grace. 
 
152 THE ANGLER'S TENT. 
 
 And much fliey gazed with never-tired delight 
 On varnish'd rod^ with joints that shone like gold, 
 And silken line on glittering reel enroil'd, 
 To infant anglers a most wondrous sight! 
 Scarce could their chiding parents then control* 
 Their little heart- in harmless malice gay, 
 But still one, bolder than his fellows, stole 
 To touch the tempting treasures where they lay. 
 What rapture glistened in their eager eyes, 
 When, with kind voice, we bade these children take 
 A precious store of well-dissembled flies, 
 To use with caution for the stranger's sake ! 
 The unlook'd-for gift we graciously bestow 
 With Ullden joy the leaping heart o'erpowers; 
 They grasp the lines, while all thtir faces glow 
 Bright as spring-blossoms after sunny showers, 
 And wear them in their hats like wreaths of valle 
 flowers ! 
 
 Nor could they check their joyaiice and surprise] 
 When the clear crystal and the silver bowl 
 Gleamed with a novel beauty on their soul, 
 And tlie wine mantled with its rosy dies. 
 For all our pomp we shew'd with mickle glee, 
 And choicest viands, fitly to regale, 
 On such a day of rare festivity, 
 
TJiE angler's tent. 153 
 
 Our guests thus wondering at their native vale. 
 
 And oft we pledged them, nor could they decline 
 
 The social cup we did our best to press, 
 
 But mingled wishes with the joyful wine, 
 
 Warm wishes for our health and happiness. 
 
 And all the while, a low, delightful sound 
 
 Of voice, soft-answering voice, with music fill'd 
 
 Our fairy palace's enchanted ground, 
 
 Such tones as seem from blooming tree distill'd, 
 
 Where unseen bees repair their waxen cells to build 
 
 Lost as we were in that most blessed mood 
 Which Nature's sons alone can deeply prove. 
 We lavish'd with free heart our kindest love 
 On all who breath'd, — one common brotherhood. 
 Three faithful servants, men of low degree. 
 Were with us, as we roamed the wilds among, 
 And well it pleased their simple hearts to see 
 Their masters mingling with the rural throng. 
 Oft to our guesta they sought to speak aside, 
 And, in the genial flow of gladness, told 
 That we were free from haughtiness or pride, 
 Though scholars all, and rich in lauds and gold. 
 We smiled to hear our praise thus rudely sung, 
 (Well might such praise our modesty offend) 
 Yf>t, we all strove, at once with eye and tongue 
 11 
 
154 THE angler's tent. 
 
 To speak, as if invited by a friend, 
 
 And with our casual talk instruction's voice to blend. 
 
 Kumours of wars had reached this peaceful vale, 
 And of the Wicked King, whom guilt hath driv^ 
 On earth to wage a warfare against Heaven, 
 These sinless shepherds had heard many a tale. 
 Encircled as we were with smiles and joy. 
 In quietness to Quiet's dwelling brought. 
 To think of him whose bliss is to destroy, 
 At such a season was an awful thought ! 
 We felt the eternal power of happiness 
 And virtue's power; we felt with holy awe 
 That in this world, in spite of chance distress, 
 Such is the Almighty Spirit's ruUng law. 
 And joyfully did we these shepherds tell 
 To hear all rumotirs with a tranquil mind, 
 For, in the end, that all would yet be well. 
 Nor this bad Monarch leave one trace behind, 
 More than o'er yonder hills the idly-raving wind. 
 
 Then gravely smiled, in all the power of age, 
 A hoary-headed, venerable man, 
 Like the mild chieftain of a peaceful clan, 
 >Mid simple spirits looked on as a sage. 
 Much did he praise the holy faith we held, 
 Wliich God, he said, to cheer the soul had given, 
 
THE ANGLER'S TENT. 155 
 
 For even the very angels that rebelled, 
 By sin performed the blessed work of Heaven. 
 The Wicked King, of whom we justly spake, 
 Was but an instrument in God's wise hand, 
 And though the kingdoms of the easth might quake, 
 Peace would revisit every ravaged land. 
 Even as the earthquake, in some former time, 
 Scatter'd yon nigged mountain far and wide, 
 Till years of winter's snow and summer's prime, 
 To naked cliffs fresh verdure have supplied, 
 — Now troops of playful lambs are bounding on its 
 side. 
 
 Pleased were the simple groupe to hear the sire 
 Thus able to converse with men from far, 
 And much did they of vaguely-rumour'd war, 
 Tiiat long had raged in distant lands, inquire. 
 Scarce could their hearts, at peace with all mankind, 
 Believe what bloody deeds on earth are done, 
 That man of woman born should be so bhnd 
 As walk in guilt beneath the blessed sun ; 
 And one, with thoughtful countenance, exprest 
 A fear lest on some dark disastrous day, 
 Across the sea -night como that noisome pest, 
 And make fair England's happy vales his prey. 
 Short lived that fear! — soon firmer thouglits arise 
 
155 THl! AUfGLEtl'S TENf. 
 
 Well could these dalesmen wield the patriot's sword, 
 And stretch the foe beneath the smiling skies ; 
 In innocence they trust, and in the Lord, 
 Whom they, that very morn, in gladness had adored ! 
 
 * 
 
 But soon such thoughts to lighter speech give way, 
 
 We in our turn a willing ear did lend 
 
 To tale of sports, that made them blythely spend 
 
 The winter-evening and the siimmer-day. 
 
 Smiling they told as of the harmless glee 
 
 That bids the echoes of the mountains wake, 
 
 When at the stated festival they see 
 
 Their new-wash'd flocks come snow-white from the 
 
 lake ; 
 And joyful dance at neighbouring village fair, 
 Where lads and lasses, in their best attire, 
 Go to enjoy that playful pastime rare, 
 And careful statesmen sheplierds new to hire! 
 Or they would tell, how, at some neighbour's cot, 
 When nights are long, and winter on the earth. 
 All cares are in the dance and song forgot. 
 And round the fire quick flies the circling mirth, 
 When nuptial vows are pledged, or at an infant's 
 
 birtli ! 
 
 Well did the roses blooming on their cheek, 
 And eyes of laughing light, that glisten'd fair 
 
THE angler's tent. 157" 
 
 Beneath the artless ringlets of their hair, 
 Each maiden's health and purity bespeak. 
 Following the impulse of their simple will, 
 No thought had they to give or take oflfence ; 
 Glad were their bosoms, yet sedate and still, 
 And fearless in the strength of innocence. 
 Oft as, in accents mild, we strangers spoke 
 To these sweet maidens, an unconscious smile 
 Like sudden sunshine o'er their faces broke. 
 And with it struggling blushes mix'd the while. 
 And oft as mirth and glee went laughing round, 
 Brcatli'din this maiden's ear some harmless jest 
 Would make her, for one moment, on the ground 
 Her eyes let fall, as wishing from the rest 
 To hide the sudden throb that beat within her breast. 
 
 Oh! not in vain have purest poets told, 
 
 In elegies and hymns that ne'er shall die, 
 
 How, in tlie fields of famous Arcady, 
 
 Lived simple shepherds iu the age of gold ! 
 
 They fabled not, in peopling rural shades 
 
 With all most beautiful in heart and frame ; 
 
 Where without guile swains woo'd their happy maids^ 
 
 And love was friendship with a gentler name. 
 
 Such songs in truth and nature had their birth. 
 
 Their source was lofty and their aim was pure^ 
 
158 THE ANfiLER's TENT- 
 
 And stilJ, in many a favour'd spot of earth, 
 The virtues that awoke their voice endure ! 
 Bear witness thou ! O, wild and beauteous dell, 
 To whom my gladden'd heart devotes this strain; 
 — O ! long may all who in thy bosom dwell 
 Nature's primeval innocence retain, 
 Nor e'er may lawless foot thy sanctify profane ! 
 
 Sweet Maids ! my wandering heart returns to you : 
 And well the blush of joy, the courteous air, 
 Words unrestrained, and open looks declare 
 That fancy's day-dreams have not been untrue. 
 It was indeed a beauteous thing, to see 
 The virgin, while her bashful visage smiled. 
 As if she were a mother, on her knee 
 Take up, with many a kiss, the asking child. 
 And well, I ween, she play'd the mother's part } 
 For as she bended o'er the infant fair, 
 A mystic joy seem'd stirring at her heart, 
 A yearning fondness, and a silent prayer. 
 Nor did such gentle maiden long refuse 
 To cheer our spirits with some favourite strain, 
 Some simple ballad, framed by rustic muse. 
 Of one who died for love, or, led by gain, 
 Saird in a mighty ship to lands beyend the main. 
 
THE ANfitEB'S TENT. 159 
 
 And must we close this scene of merriment ? 
 — Lo ! in the lake soft buriw the star of eve, 
 And the night-hawk hath warn'd our guests to leave 
 Ere darker shades descend, our happy tent. 
 The Moon's bright edge is seen above the hill ; 
 She comes to light them on their homeward way ; 
 And every heart, I ween, now hes as still 
 As on yon fleecy cloud her new-born ray. 
 Kipdiy by young and old our hands are press'd. 
 And kindly we the gentle touch return ; 
 Each face declares that deep in every breast 
 Peace, virtue, friendship, and affection burn. 
 At last beneath the silent air we part, 
 And promise make that shall not be in vain, 
 A promise asked and given warm from the heart, 
 That we will visit all, on liill and plain, 
 If e'er it be our lot to see this land again I 
 
 Backward they gazed, as slowly they withdrew, 
 With step reluctant, from the water-side ; 
 And oft, with waving hand, at distance tried 
 Through the dim light to send a last adieu! 
 One lovely groupe still linger'd on the green, 
 The first to come, the last to go away ; 
 While steep'd in stillness of the moonlight scene) 
 Moor'd to a rock their little pinnace lay. 
 
160 THE ANCrtER'3 TEtn. 
 
 These laughing damsels climb its humble side, 
 Like faify elves that love the starry sea ; 
 Nor e'er did billows with more graceful ghde 
 'Mid the wild main enjoy their liberty. 
 Their faces brightening in triumphant hue, 
 Close to each maid their joyful lovers stand; 
 One gives the signal, — all the jovial crew 
 Let go, with tender press, the yielding band; 
 — Down drop the oars at once, — away theypfisb 
 from land. 
 
 The boat hath left the silent bank, the tone 
 Of the retiring oar escapes the mind ; 
 Like mariners some ship hath left behind, 
 We feel, thus standing speechless and alone. 
 One moment lives that melancholy trance — 
 The mountains ring: Oh! what a joy is there ! 
 As hurries o'er their heights, in circling dance, 
 Cave-loving Echo, Daughter of the Ah*. 
 Is it some spirit of night that wakes the shout, 
 As o'er the cliffs, with headlong speed, she ranges ' 
 Is it, on plain and steep, some fairy rout 
 Answering each other in tumultuous changes.' 
 There seems amid the hills a playful war ; 
 Trumpet and clarion join the mystic noise; 
 Now growing on the ear, now dying far ! 
 Great Gabel from his summit sends a voice^ 
 
THE ANGLER'S TENT. 161 
 
 And the remotest depths of Ennevdale rejoice ! 
 Oh ! well I know what means this din of mirth ! 
 No spirits are they, who, trooping through the sky, 
 In chorus swell that mountain melody j 
 — It comes from mortal children of the earth I 
 These are the voices that so late did cheer 
 Our tent with laughter; from the hills they com*. 
 With friendly sound unto our listening ear, 
 A jocund farewell to our glimmering home. 
 liOth are our guests, though they have linger'd long^ 
 That our sweet tent at last should leave their sight ; 
 So with one voice they sing a parting song, 
 Ere they descend behind the clouds of night. 
 Nor are we mute ; an answering shout we wake, 
 At each short pause of the long, lengthening sound, 
 Till all is silent as the silent Lake, 
 And every noise above, below, around. 
 Seems in the brooding night-sky's depth of slumbcv 
 drown'd ! 
 
 Soon from that calm our spirits start again 
 With bly ther vigour ; nought around we see, 
 Save lively images of mirth and glee, 
 And playful fancies hurry through our brain. 
 Shiue not, sweet Moon ! with such a haughty light; 
 Ye stars ! behind your veil of cloods retire ; 
 H g 
 
162 THE angler's tent. 
 
 For we shall kindle on the eartli/this nighty 
 To drown your feeble rays, a joyous fire. 
 Bring the leaves whithering in the holly-shade, 
 The oaken branches sapless now and hoar, 
 The fern no longer green, and whins that fade 
 'Mid the thin sand that strews the rocky shore^ 
 Heap them above that new-awaken'd spark ; 
 Soon shall a pyramid of flame arise ; 
 Now the first rustling of the vapour, hark ! 
 The kindling spirit from its prison flies, 
 And in an instant mounts in glory to the skies ! 
 
 Far gleams the Lake, as in the light of day. 
 Or when, from mountain-top, the setting sun, 
 Ere yet his earth-delighting course is run, 
 Sheds on the slumbering wave a purple ray. 
 A bright'ning verdure runs o'er every field, 
 As if by potent necromancer shed. 
 And a dark wood is suddenly reveal'd, 
 A glory resting on its ancient head. 
 And oh ! what ratliant beauty doth invest 
 Our tent that seems to feel a conscious pride, 
 Whiter by far than any cygnet's breast, 
 Or cygnet's shadow floating with the tide. 
 A warmer flush unto the moonlight cold. 
 Winning its lovely way, is softly given, 
 A silvery radiance tinged with vivid gold,; 
 
THE angler's tent. 16S 
 
 While thousand mimic stars are gayly driven 
 Through the bright-glistening air, scarce known 
 from those in Heaven. 
 
 Amid the flame our lurid figures stand, 
 
 Or, through the shrouding vapour dimly view'd, 
 
 To fancy seem, in that strange solitude, 
 
 Like the wild brethren of some lawless band. 
 
 One, snatching from the heap a blazing bough, 
 
 Would, like lone maniac, from the rest retire, 
 
 And, as he waved it, mutter deep a vow, 
 
 His head encircled with a wreath of fire. 
 
 Others, with rushing haste, and eager voice, 
 
 Would draff new victims to the insatiate power, 
 
 That like a savage idol did rejoice 
 
 Whate'er his suppliants ofFer'd to devour. 
 
 And aye strange murmurs o'er the mountains roil'd, 
 
 As if from sprite immured in cavern lone, 
 
 While higher rose pale Luna to behold 
 
 Our mystic orgies, where no light had shone, 
 
 For many and many a year of silence — but her own. 
 
 O ! gracious Goddess! not in vain did shine 
 Thy spirit o'er tlie heavens; with reverent eye 
 We hail'd thee floating through the happy sky ; 
 No SQiires to us are half so dear as thine ! 
 
164 TKE ANGLER'S TENT. 
 
 Silent we stood beside our dying flame, 
 In pensive sadness, born of wild delight. 
 And gazing heavenward, many a gentle name 
 Bestow'd on her who beautifies the night. 
 Then, with one heart, like men who inly mourn'd, 
 Slowly we paced towards our fairy cell, 
 And e'er we entered, for one moment turn'd, 
 And bade the silent majesty farewell ! 
 Our rushy beds invite us to repose ; 
 And while our spirits breathe a grateful prayer, 
 In balmy slumbers soon our eyelids close. 
 While, in our dreams, the Moon, serenely fair, 
 Still bathes in light divine the visionary air! 
 
 Methinks, next night, I see her mount her throne 
 
 Intent with loving smile once more to hail 
 
 The deep, deep peace of this her loneliest vale, 
 
 »— But where hath now the magic dwelling flown? 
 
 Oh ! it hath melted like a dream away, ^ 
 
 A dream by far too beautiful for earth ; 
 
 Or like a cloud that hath no certain stay, 
 
 But ever changing, like a ditferent birth. 
 
 The aged holly trees more silently, 
 
 Now we are gone, stand on the silent ground ; 
 
 I seem to hear the streamlet floating by 
 
 With a complaining, melancholy sound. 
 
 Hush'd are the echoes in each mountain's breast, 
 
THE angler's tent. 165 
 
 No traces there of former mirth remain ; 
 They all in friendly grandeur lie at rest 
 And silent, save where Nature's eudless strain. 
 From cataract and cave, delights her lonely reign. 
 
 Yet, though the strangers and their tent have past 
 
 Away, like snow that leaves no mark behind, 
 
 Their image lives in many a guiltless mind, 
 
 And long within the shepherd's cot shall last. 
 
 Oft when, on winter night the crowded seat 
 
 Is closely wheel'd before the blazing fire, 
 
 Then will he love with grave voice to repeat 
 
 (He, the gray-headed venerable sire,) 
 
 The conversation he with us did hold 
 
 On moral subjects, he had studied long ; 
 
 And some will jibe the maid who was so bold 
 
 As sing to strangers readily a song. 
 
 Then they unto each other vrill recall 
 
 Each little incident of that strange night, 
 
 And give their kind opinion of us all ; 
 
 God bless their faces smiling in the light 
 
 Of their own cottage-hearth! O, fair subduing sight J 
 
 Friends of my heart! who shared that purest joy, 
 And oft will read these lines with soften'd soul, 
 Go where we will, let years of absence roll, 
 Nought shall our sacred amity destroy. 
 
166 THE angler's tent. 
 
 We walk'd together through the mountain-calm, 
 In open confidence, and perfect trust j 
 And pleasure, falling through our breasts like balm. 
 Told that the yearnings that we felt were just. 
 No slighting tone, no chilling look e'er ruarr'd 
 The happiness in which our thoughts reposed, 
 No words save those of gentleness were heard, 
 The eye spoke kindly when the lip was closed. 
 Eut'chief, on that blest day that wakes my song, 
 Our hearts eternal truth in silence swore j 
 The holy oath is planted deep and strong 
 Within our spirits, — in their inmost core, — 
 And it shall blosaom fair tilUife shall be no more! 
 
 Most hallow'd day ! scarce can my heart sustain 
 Your tender light by memory made more mild j 
 Tears could I shed even like unto a child, 
 And sighs within my spirit hushed the strain. 
 Too many clouds have dimm'd my youthful life, 
 These wakeful eyes too many vigils keptj 
 Mine hath it been to toss in mental strife, 
 When in the moonlight breathing Nature slept. 
 But I forget my cares, in bliss forget, 
 When, peaceful Valley ! 1 remember thee ; 
 I seem to breathe the air of joy, and yet 
 Thy bright'niuj,' huei^ with muisien'deyes I see. 
 
THE angler's Tent. 167 
 
 So will it be, till life itself doth close, 
 
 Roam though I may o'er many a distant clime 3 
 
 Happy, or pining in unnoticed woes, 
 
 Oft shall my soul recall that blessed time, ^ 
 
 And in her depths adore the beauteous and sublime ! 
 
 Time that my rural reed at last should cease 
 Its willing numbers ; not in vain hath flow'd 
 The strain that on my singing heart bestow'd 
 The holy boon of undisturbed peace. 
 O gentlest Lady ! Sister of my friend, 
 This simple strain I consecrate to thee; 
 Haply its music with thy soul may blend, 
 Albeit well used to loftier minstrelsy. 
 Nor, may thy quiet spirit read the lay 
 With cold regard, thou wife and mother blest ! 
 For he was with me on that Sabbath-day, 
 Whose heart lies buried in thy inmost breast. 
 Then go my innocent and blameless tale, 
 In gladness go, and free from every fear, 
 To yon sweet dwelling above Grassmere vale, 
 And be to them I long have held so dear, 
 One of their fire-side songs, still fresh from year to 
 * yeau 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 
 
 Oh ! Nature f whose Elysian scenes disclose 
 His bright perfections at whose word they rose. 
 Next to that Power wkoform'd thee and sustains, 
 Be thou the great inspirer of my strains. 
 Still, as I touch the lyre, do thou expand 
 Thy genuine charms^ and guide an artless hdnd. 
 
 COWPEB' 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 THE HERMITAGE. 
 
 Stranger ! this lonely glen in ancient times 
 
 Was named the glen of blood ; nor Christian feet 
 
 By night or day, from the^e o'er-arching cliffs 
 
 That haply now have to thy joyful shouts 
 
 Return'd a mellow music, ever brought 
 
 One trembling sound to break the depth of silence. 
 
 The village maiden, in this little stream, 
 
 Though then, as now, most clearly beautiful. 
 
 Ne'er steeped her simple garments, while she sang 
 
 Some native air of sadness or of math. 
 
 In these cold, shady pools, the fearless trout 
 
 Ne'er saw the shadow, but of sailing cloud, 
 
 Or kite that v\rheeling eyed the far-off lamb j 
 
 And on yon hazel bowers the ripen'd fruit 
 
 Hung clustering, moved but by the frequent swing 
 
 Of playful squirrel, — for no school-boy here 
 
 AVith crook and angle light on holiday 
 
 Came nutting, or to snare the sportive fry. 
 
 Even bolder spirits shuun'd the glen of blood! 
 
172 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 These rocks, the abode of echo, never mock'd 
 lu sportive din the huntsman's bugle horn; 
 And as the shepherd from the mountain-fold 
 Homewards return'd beneath the silent Moon, 
 A low unconscious prayer would agitate 
 His breathless heart, for here in unblest grave 
 Lay one for whom ne'er toll'd the passing-bell! 
 
 And thus was Nature by the impious guilt 
 Of one who scorn'd her gracious solitude, 
 Defrauded of her worshippers : though pure 
 This glen, as consecrated house of God, 
 Fit haunt of heaven-aspiring piety, 
 Or in whose dripping cells the poet's ear 
 Might list unearthly music, this sweet glen 
 With all its tender tints and pensive sounds, 
 Its balmy fragrance and romantic forms, 
 Lay lonely and unvisitod, yea worse, 
 Peopled with fancied demons, and the brood 
 At enmity with man. 
 
 So was it once : 
 But now far other creed hath sanctified 
 This dim seclusion, and all human hearts 
 Unto its spirit deeply reconciled. 
 *Tis said, and I in truth believe the tale, 
 
MISCELLAXEOVS POEMS. ITS 
 
 That many years ago an aged man, 
 
 Of a divine aspect and stately form, 
 
 Came to tliis glen and took upjiis abode 
 
 In one of those wild caves so numerous 
 
 Among the hanging clifFst, though hid from view 
 
 By trailing ivy, or thick holly- bush, 
 
 Through the whole year so deeply, brightly green. 
 
 With evil eye the simple villagers 
 
 First look'd on him, and scarcely dared to tell 
 
 Each other, what dim fears were in their souls. 
 
 But there is something in the voice and eye 
 
 Of beautiful old age, with angel power 
 
 That charms away suspicion, and compels 
 
 The unwilling soul to reverence and lore. 
 
 So was it with this mystical old man ! 
 
 When first he came into the glen, the spring 
 
 Had just begun to tinge the sullen rocks 
 
 With transient smiles, and ere the leafy bowers 
 
 Of summer rustled, many a visitant 
 
 Had sat within his hospitable cave, 
 
 From his maple bowl the unpolluted spring 
 
 Drunk fearless, and with him partook the bread 
 
 That his pale lips mostTeverently had bless'd 
 
 With words becoming such a holy man ! 
 
 Oft was he seen surrounded by a group© 
 Of happy children, unto whom he sp^ke 
 
ir4 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 With more than a paternal tenderness ; 
 
 And they who once had gazed with trembling fear 
 
 On the wild dweller in th' unholy glen, 
 
 At last with airy trip and gia(i;«ome song 
 
 Would seek him there, and listen on his knee * 
 
 To mournful ditties, and most touching tales ! 
 
 One only book was in this hermit's cell, 
 The Book of Life ; and when from it he read 
 With solemn voice devoutly musical, 
 His thoughtful eye stiil brightening as the words, 
 The words of Jesus, in that peaceful cave 
 Sounded more holily, — and his grey hair. 
 Betokening that e'er long in Jesns' breast 
 Would be his blessed sleep, — on his calm brows 
 Spread quietly like thin and snowy clouds 
 On the husht evening sky : — Wliile thus he sate, 
 Ev'n like the Apostle whom our Saviour loved, 
 In his old age, in Patmos' lonely Isle 
 Musing on him that he had served in youth, — 
 Oh I then, I ween, the awe-struck villagers 
 Could scarce*sustain his tones so deeply charged 
 With hope, and faith, and gratitude, and joy. 
 But when they gazed ! — in the mild lineaments 
 Qf his majestic visage, they beheld 
 How beautiful is holiness, and deem'd 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 176 
 
 That sure he was some spirit sent by God 
 To teach the way to Heaven ! 
 
 And yet his voice 
 Was oft times sadder, than as they conceived 
 An Angel's voice would be, and though to sooth 
 The sorrows of all others ever seem'd 
 His only end in life, perhaps he had 
 Griefs of his own of which he nothing spake; 
 Else were his locks more grey, more pale his cheek, 
 Than one had thought who only saw his form 
 So stately and so tall. — 
 
 Once did they speak 
 To him of that most miserable man 
 Who here himself had slain, — and then his eye 
 Was glazed with stern connipa!:sion, and a tear, — 
 It was the first they e'er had seen him shed, 
 Though mercy was the attribute he loved 
 Dearest in God's own Son, — bedimm'd its light 
 For a short moment ; yea, that hermit old 
 Wept, — and his sadden'd face angelical 
 Veil'd with his wither'd hands, — then on their knees 
 He bade his children (so he loved to call 
 The villagers) kneel down ; and unto God 
 Prav for his brother's soul. — 
 
176 MIgCS£L.4K£0US POEMS. 
 
 Amid the dust 
 The hermit long hath slept, — and every one 
 That listen'd to the saint's delightful voice. 
 In yonder church -yard, near the eastern porch, 
 Close to the altar-wall, a little mound 
 As if by nature shaped, and strewn by her 
 With every tender flower that sorrow loves, 
 Tradition calls his grave. On Sabbath>day, 
 The hind oft hears the legendary tale 
 Rehearsed by village moralist austere 
 With many a pious phrase ; and not a child, 
 Whose trembling feet had scarcely learnt to walk, 
 But will conduct thee to the haliow'd spot 
 And lisp the hermit's name. 
 
 Nor did the cave 
 That he long time from Nature tenanted 
 Remain uahonour'd. — Duly every spring, 
 Upon the day he died, thither repair'd 
 Many a pure spirit, to his memory 
 Chanting a choral hymn, composed by one 
 Wiio on his death-bed sat and closed his eyes, 
 *' I am the resurrection and the hfe," 
 Some old man then would, with a solemn voice, 
 Read from that Bible that so oft had blest 
 The Hermit's solitude with heavenly cheer. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 177 
 
 This Book, sole relic of the sinless man, 
 Was from the dust kept sacred, and even now 
 Lies in yon box of undecaying yew, 
 And may it never fade! — 
 
 Stranger unknown ! 
 Thou breath'st, at present, in the very cave 
 Where on the Hermit death most gently fell 
 Like a long wish'd-for slumber. The great Lord, 
 Whose castle stands amid the music wild 
 Breathed from the bosom of an hundred glens, 
 In youth by nature taught to venerate 
 Things truly venerable, hither came 
 One year to view the fair solemnity : 
 And that the forest-weeds might not obstruct 
 The entrance of the cave, or worm defile 
 The soft green beauty of its mossy walls, 
 This massive door was from a fallen oak 
 Shaped rudely, but all other ornament. 
 That porch of living rock with woodbines wreathed, 
 And outer roof with many a pensile shrub 
 Most delicate, he with wise feeling left 
 To Nature, and her patient servant, Thv.e ! 
 
 Stranger ! I know thee not : yet since thy feet 
 Have wandered here, I deem that thou art one 
 I 
 
178 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. . 
 
 Whose heart doth love in silent communings 
 
 To walk with Nature, and from scenes like these 
 
 Of solemn sadness, to sublime thy soul 
 
 To high endurance of all earthly pains 
 
 Of mind or body j so that thou connect 
 
 With Nature's lovely and more lofty forms, 
 
 Congenial thoughts of grandeur or of grace 
 
 In moral being. All creation takes 
 
 The spirit of its character from him 
 
 Who looks thereon ; and to a blameless heart. 
 
 Earth, air, and ocean, ho wsoe'er beheld. 
 
 Are pregnant with delight, while even the clouds, 
 
 Embalh'd in dying sunshine, to the base 
 
 Possess no glory, and to the wicked lower 
 
 As with avenging thunder. 
 
 This sweet glen, 
 How sweet it is thou feef'st, with sylvan rocks 
 Excluding all but one blue glimpse of sky 
 Above and from the world that lies around 
 AU l)ut the faint remembrance, tempted once 
 To most unnatural murder, once sublimed 
 To the high temper of the seraphim : 
 And thus, though its mild character remain'd 
 Immutable, — with pious dread was shunn'd 
 As an unholy spot, or visited 
 With reverence, as a consecrated shrine^ 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 179 
 
 Farewell ! and grave this moral on thy heart, 
 *' That Nature smiles for ever on the good, — 
 " But that all beauty dies with innocence !'* 
 
180 miSCELLAMEOUS POEMS. 
 
 LINES 
 
 WRITTEN ON READING THE MEMOIRS OF 
 
 MISS SMITH. 
 
 Peace to the dead ! the voice of Nature cries, 
 Even o'er the grave where guilt or frailty lies; 
 Compassion drives each sterner thought away, 
 And all seem good when mouldering in the clay. 
 For who amid the dim religious gloom, 
 The solemn sabbath brooding o'er the tomb, 
 The holy stillness that suspends our breath 
 When the soul rests within the shade of death. 
 What heart could then withhold the pensive sigh 
 Reflection pays to poor mortality, 
 Nor sunk in pity near allied to love, 
 E'en bless the being we could ne'er approve ! 
 The headstrong will with innocence at strife, 
 The restless passions that deform'd his life, 
 Desires that spurn'd at reason's weak control, 
 And dimm'd the native lustre of the soul, 
 The look repulsive that like ice repress'd 
 The friendly warmth that play'd within the breast, 
 The slighting word, tlirough heedlessness severe, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 181 
 
 Wounding the spirit that it ought to cheer, 
 Lie buried in the grave ! or if they live, 
 Remembrance only vpakes them to forgive ; 
 While vice and error steal a soft relief i 
 
 From the still twilight of a mellowing grief. 
 And oh ! how lovely do the tints return 
 Of every virtue sleeping in the urn ! 
 Each grace that fleeted unobserved away, 
 Starts into life when those it deck'd decay ; 
 Regret fresh beauty on the corse bestows. 
 And self-reproach is mingled with our woes. 
 
 But nobler sorrows lift the musing mind, 
 When soaring spirits leave their frames behind, 
 Who walked the world in Nature's generous pride, 
 And, like a sun-beam, lightened as they died ! 
 Hope, resignation, the sad soul beguile. 
 And Grief's tear drops 'raid Faith's celestial smile : 
 Then burns our being with a holy mirth 
 That owns no kindred with this mortal earth ; 
 For hymning angels in blest vision wave 
 Their wings' bright glory o'er the seraph's grave ! 
 
 Oh thou ! whose soul unmoved by earthly strife, 
 Led by the pole-star of eternal life, 
 Own'd no emotion stain'd by touch of clay, 
 
18* MISCEILANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 No thought that angels miglit not pleased survey j 
 Thou ! whose caira course through Virtue's fields was 
 run 
 
 '^rom youth's fair morning to thy setting sun, 
 Nor vice e'er dared one little cloud to roll 
 O'er the bright beauty of thy spotless soul j 
 Thou ! who secure in good works strong to save, 
 Resign'd and happy, eyed'st the opening grave, 
 And in the blooming summer of thy years 
 Scarce felt'st regret to leave this vale of tears j 
 Oh ! from thy throne amid the starry skies. 
 List to my words thus interwove with sighs, 
 And if the high resolves, the cherish'd pain 
 That prompt the weak but reverential strain. 
 If love of virtue ardent and sincere 
 Can win to mortal verse a cherub's ear, 
 Bend from thy radiant throne thy form divine. 
 And make the adoring spirit pure as thine ! 
 When my heart muses o*er the long review 
 Of all thy bosom felt, thy reason knew, 
 0*er boundless learning free from boastful pride, 
 And patience humble though severely tried. 
 Judgment unclouded, passions thrice refined, 
 A heaven-aspiring loftiness of mind, 
 
 ■ And, rare perfection! calm and sober sense 
 Combined with fancy's wild magnificence ; 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 183 
 
 Struck with the pomp of Nature's wondrous plan, 
 I hail with joy the dignity of man, 
 And soaring high above Ufe's roaring sea, 
 Spring to the dwelling of my God and Thee. 
 
 Short here thy stay ! for souls of holiest birth 
 Dwell but a moment with the sons of earth ; 
 To tliis dim sphere by God's indulgence given, 
 Their friends are angels, and their home is heaven. 
 The fairest rose in shortest time decays ; 
 The sun, when brightest, soon withdraws his rays;' 
 The dew that gleams like diamonds on the thorn, 
 Melts instantaneous at the breath of morn ; 
 Too soon a rolling shade of darkness shrouds 
 The star that smiles amid the evening clouds ; 
 And sounds that come so sweetly on the ear, 
 That the soul wishes every sense could hear, 
 Are as the Light's unwearied pinions fleet, 
 As scarce as beauteous, and as short as sweet. 
 
 Yet, thoogh the unpolluted soul requires 
 Airs born in Heaven to fan her sacred fires, 
 And mounts to God, exulting to be free 
 From fleshly chain that binds mortality. 
 The world is hallow'd by her blest sojourn, 
 And glory dwells for ever round her urn J 
 
3S4 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Her skirts of beauty sanctify the air 
 
 That felt her breathings, and that heard her prayer; 
 
 Vice dies where'er the radiant vision trod, 
 
 And there e'en Atheists must believe in God ! 
 
 Such the proud triunophs that the good atchieve ! 
 
 Such the blest gift that sinless spirits leave ! 
 
 The parted soul in God-given strength sublime. 
 
 Streams undimm'd splendour o'er unmeasured time ; 
 
 Still on the earth the saluted hues survive, 
 
 Dead in the tomb, but in the heart alive. 
 
 In vain the tide of ages strives to roll 
 
 A bar to check the intercourse of soul ; 
 
 The hovering spirits of the good and great 
 
 With fond remembrance own their former state, 
 
 And musing virtue often can behold 
 
 In vision high their plumes of wavy gold. 
 
 And drink with tranced ear the silver sound 
 
 Of seraphs hymning on their nightly round. 
 
 By death imtaught, our range of thought is small, 
 
 Bound by the attraction of this earthly ball. 
 
 Our sorrows and our joys, onr hopes and fears, 
 
 Ignobly pent within a few short years j 
 
 But when our hearts have read Fate's mystic book, 
 
 On Heaven's gemm'd sphere we lift a joyful look, 
 
 Hope turns to Faith, Faith glorifies the gloom, 
 
 And life springs forth exulting from the tombf 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 185 
 
 Oh, blest Eliza ! though to ra6 unknown, 
 Thine eye's mild lustre and thy melting tone ; 
 Though on this earth apart our lives were led, 
 Nor my love found thee till thy soul was fled ; 
 Yet, can affection kiss thy silent clay, 
 And rend the glimmering veil of death away : 
 Fancy beholds with fixed, delighted eye, 
 Thy white-robed spirit gently gliding by ; 
 Deep sinks thy smile into my quiet breast, 
 As moonlight steeps the ocean-wave in rest ! 
 While thus, bright shade! thine eyes of mercy dwell 
 On that fair land thou loved'st of old so well, 
 What holy raptures through thy being flow, 
 To see thy memory blessing all below. 
 Virtue re-kindle at thy grave her fires. 
 And vice repentant shun his low desires ! 
 This the true Christian's heaven ! on earth to see 
 The sovereign power of immortality 
 At war with sin, and in triumphant pride 
 Spreading the empire of the crucified. — 
 
 Oft 'mid the calm of mountain solitude, 
 Where Nature's loveliness thy spirit woo'd ; 
 Where lonely cataracts with sullen roar 
 To thy hush'd heart a fearful rapture bore. 
 And caverns moaning with the voice of night, 
 12 
 
186 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Steep'd through the earthy mind in strange delight, 
 I feel thy influence on my heart descend 
 Like words of comfort whispered by a friend, 
 And every cloud in lovelier figures roll, 
 Shaped by the power of thy presidinj^ soul! 
 And when, slow-sinking in a blaze of light, 
 The sun in glory bathes each radiant height, 
 Amid the glow thy form seraphic seems 
 To float refulgent with unborrow'd beams ; 
 For thou, like him, hadst still thy course pursued, 
 From thy own blessedness dispensing good j 
 Brightly thy soul in life's fair morn arose. 
 And burn'd like him, more glorious at its close. 
 
 But now, I feel my pensive spirit turn, 
 "Where parents, brothers, sisters, o'er thee mourn. 
 For though to all unconscious timesupphes 
 A strength of soul that stifles useless sighs; 
 And in our loneliest hours of grief is given 
 To our dim gaze a nearer glimpse of heaven. 
 Yet, human frailty pines in deep distress, 
 Even when a friend has soar'd to happiness, 
 And sorrow, selfish from excess of Ime^ 
 Would glad recal the seraph from above ! 
 And, chief, to thee! on whose delighted breast. 
 While, yet a babe, she play'd herself to rest, 
 
MISCELI-ANEDUS POEMS. W 
 
 Who rock'd her cradle with requited care, 
 And bless'd her sleeping with a silent prayer; 
 To thee, who first beheld, with watchful eye, 
 From her flush'd cheek health's natural radiance fly, 
 And, though by fate denied the power to save, 
 Smooth'd with kind care her passage to the grave, 
 When slow consumption led with fatal bloom 
 A rosy spectre smiling to the tomb; 
 The strain of comfort first to thee would flow, 
 But thou hast comforts man could ne'er bestow ; 
 And e'en misfortune's long and gloomy roll 
 W akes dreams of glory in thy stately soul. 
 For reason whispers, and religion proves, 
 That God by sorrow chasteneth whom he loves j 
 And suffering virtue smiles at misery's gloom, 
 Cheer'd by the light that burns beyond the tomb, 
 
 All Nature speaks of thy departed child, 
 The flowery meadow, and the mountain wild; 
 Of her the lark 'mid sun sliiae oft will sing, 
 And torrents flow with dirge-like mnrmuring ! 
 The lake, that smiles to heaven a watery gleam, 
 Shows in the vivid beauty of a dream 
 Her, whose fine touch in mellowing hues array'd 
 The misty summit and the woodland glade. 
 
188 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 The sparkling depth that slept in waveless rest, 
 
 And verdant isles reflected on its breast. 
 
 As down the vale thy lonely footsteps stray, 
 
 While eve steals dimly on retiring day, 
 
 And the pale light that nameless calm supplies, 
 
 That holds commimion with the promised skies, 
 
 Where Nature's beauty overpowers distress, 
 
 And stars soft-burning kindle holiness, 
 
 Thy lips in passive resignation move, 
 
 And peace broods o'er thee on the wings of love. 
 
 The languid mien, the cheek of hectic die, 
 
 Tlie mournful beauty of the radiant eye. 
 
 The placid smile, the light and easy breath 
 
 Of nature blooming on the brink of death. 
 
 When the fair phantom breathed in twilight balm 
 
 A dying vigour and deceitful calm, 
 
 The tremulous voice that ever loved to tell 
 
 Thy fearful heart, that all would soon be well, 
 
 Steal on thy memory, and though tears will fall 
 
 O'er scenes gone by that thou wouldst fain recal. 
 
 Yet oft has faith with deeper bliss beguiled 
 
 A parent weeping her departed child, 
 
 Than love maternal, when her baby lay 
 
 Hush'd at her breast, or smiling in its play, 
 
 And, as some glimpse of infant fancy came, 
 
 Murmuring ia scarce-heard lisp some broken uam(?> 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 189 
 
 Thou feel'st no more griefs palpitating start, 
 Nor the drear aight hangs heavy on thy heart. 
 Though sky and star may yet awhile divide 
 Thy mortal being from thy bosom's pride, 
 Your spirits mingle — while to thine is given 
 A loftier nature from the touch of heaven. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS* 
 
 HYMN TO SPRING. 
 
 JrlOW beautiful the pastime of the Spring! 
 
 Lo ! newly waking from her wintry dream, 
 
 She, like a smiling infant, timid plays 
 
 On the green margin of this sunny lake, 
 
 Fearing, by starts, the little breaking waves 
 
 (If riplings rather known by sound than sight 
 
 May hapl)^ so be named) that in the grass 
 
 Soon fade in murmuring mirth ; now seeming proud 
 
 To venture round the edge of yon far point, 
 
 That from an eminence softly sinking down, 
 
 Doth fiom the wide and homeless waters shape 
 
 A scene of tender, delicate repose, 
 
 Fit haunt for thee, in thy first hours of joy, 
 
 Delightful Spring ! — nor less an emblem fair, 
 
 Like thee, of beauty, innocence, and youth 
 
 On such a day, 'mid such a scene as this, 
 Methinks the poets who in lovely hymns 
 Have sung thy reign, sweet Power, and wished it 
 
 long, 
 In their warm hearts conceived those eulogies, 
 That, lending to the world inanimate 
 A pulse and spirit of life, for aye preserve 
 
MISCEZiLANEOUS POEMt* 191 
 
 The sanctky of Nature, and embalm 
 
 Her fleetinsj spectacles in memory's cell 
 
 In spite of time's mutations. Onwards roll 
 
 The circling seasons, and as each gives birth 
 
 To dreams peculiar, yea destructive oft 
 
 Of former feelings, in oblivion's shade 
 
 Sleep the fair visions of forgotten hour?. 
 
 But Nature calls the poet to her aid, 
 
 And in his lays beholds her glory live 
 
 For ever. Tlius, in winter's deepest gloom, 
 
 When all is dim before the outward eye, 
 
 Nor the ear catches one delightful sound, 
 
 They who have wandcr'd in their musing walks 
 
 With the great poets, in their spirits feel 
 
 No change on earth, but see the unalter'd woods 
 
 Laden with beauty, and inhale the song 
 
 Of birds, airs, echoes, and of vernal showers. 
 
 So hath it been with me, delightfiil Spring ! 
 And now I hail thee as a friend who pays 
 An annual visit, yet whose image Hves 
 From parting to return, and who is blest 
 Each time with blessings warmer than before. 
 
 Oh ! gracious Power ! for thy beloved approach 
 The expecting earth lay v/rapt in kindling smiles, 
 
192 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 
 
 Strne^lingwitli tears, and often overcome. 
 A blessing sent before thee from the heavenS| 
 A balmy spirit breathing tenderness, 
 Prepared thy way, and all created things 
 Felt that the angel of delight was near. 
 Thou earnest at last, and such a heavenly smile 
 Shone round thee, as beseem'd the eldest-born 
 Of Nature's guardian spirits. The great Sun, 
 Scattering the clouds with a resistless smile, 
 Came forth to do thee homage ; a sweet hymn 
 Was by the low Winds chanted in the sky j 
 And when thy feet descended on the earth. 
 Scarce could they move amid the clustering flowers 
 By Nature strewn o'er valley, hill, and field. 
 To hail her blest deliverer! — Ye fair Trees, 
 How are you changed, and changing while I gaze ! 
 It seems as if some gleam of verdant light 
 Fell on you from a rainbow ; but it lives 
 Amid your tendrils, brightening every hour 
 Into a deeper radiance. Ye sweet Birds, 
 Were you asleep through all the wintry hours, 
 Beneath the waters, or in mossy caves ? 
 There are, 'tis said, birds that pursue the spring. 
 Where'er she flies, or else in death-like sleep 
 Abide her annual reign, when forth they come 
 With freshen'd plumage and enraptured song, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 193 
 
 As ye ^0 now, unwearied choristers, 
 Till the land ring with joy. Yet are ye not, 
 Sporting in tree and air, more beautiful 
 Than the young lambs, that from the valley-side 
 Send a soft bleating like an infant's voice, 
 Half happy, half afraid ! O blessed things! 
 At sight of this your perfect innocence. 
 The sterner thoughts of manhood melt away 
 Into a mood as mild as woman's dreams. 
 The strife of working intellect, the stir 
 Of hopes ambitious ; the disturbing sound 
 Of fame, and all that worshipp'd pageantry 
 That ardent spirits burn for in their pride, 
 Fly like disparting clouds, and leave the soul 
 Pure and serene as the blue depths of heaven. 
 
 Now, is the time in some meek solitude 
 To hold communion with those innocent thoughts 
 Tiiat bless'd our earher days ; — to list the voice 
 Of conscience murmuring from her inmost shrine, 
 And learn if still she sing the quiet tune 
 That fill'd the ear of youth. If tlien we feel, 
 That 'mid the powers, the passions, and desires 
 Of riper age, we still have kept our hearts 
 Free from pollution, and 'mid tempting scenes 
 Walk'd on with pure and unreproved steps, 
 
194 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Fearless of guilt, as if we knew it not ; 
 
 Ah me ! with what a new sublimity 
 
 Will the green hills lift up their sunny heads. 
 
 Ourselves as stately: Smiling we will gaze 
 
 On the ,clouds whose happy home is in the heavens > 
 
 Nor envy the clear streamlet that pursues 
 
 His course 'mid flowers and music lo the sea. 
 
 But dread the beauty of a vernal day, 
 
 Thou trembler before memory ! To the saint 
 
 What sight so lovely as the angel form 
 
 That smiles upon his sleep ! The sinner veils 
 
 His face ashamed, — unable to endure 
 
 The upbraiding silence of the seraph's eyes ! 
 
 Yet awful must it be, even to the beat 
 And w isest man, when he beholds the sun 
 Prepared once more to run his annual round 
 Of gloiy and of love, and thinks that God 
 To him, though sojourning in earthly shades, 
 Hath also given an orbit, whence his light 
 May glad the nations, or at least diffuse 
 Peace and contentment over those he loves! 
 His soul expanded by the breath of Spring, 
 With holy confidence the thoughtful roan 
 Renews his vows to virtue,— vows that bind 
 To purest motives and most useful deeds* 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 195 
 
 Thus solemnly dotli pass the vernal day, 
 In abstinence severe from worldly thoughts j 
 Lofty disdainings of all trivial joys 
 
 I Or sorrows ; meditations long and deep 
 On objects fit for the immortal love 
 Of souls immortal; weeping penitence 
 For duties (plain though highest duties be) 
 Despised or violated; humblest vows. 
 Though humble strong as death, henceforth to walk 
 Elate in innocence ; and, holier still, 
 
 ' Warm gushings of his spirit unto God 
 
 i For all his past existence, whether bright, 
 As the spring landscape sleeping in the sun. 
 Or dim and desolate like a wintry sea 
 Stormy and boding storms ! Oh ! such will be 
 
 ' Frequent and long his musings, till he feels 
 As all the stir subsides, Hke busy day 
 Soft-melting into eve's tranquillity. 
 How blest is peace when born within the soul. 
 
 And therefore do I sing these pensive hymns, 
 O Spring ! to thee, though thou by some art call'd 
 Parent of mirth and rapture, worshipp'd best 
 With festive dances and a choral song. 
 No melancholy man am I, sweet Spring ! 
 Who, filling all things with bis own poor griefs, 
 
196 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Sees nought but sadness in the character 
 Of universal Nature, and who weaves 
 Most doleful ditties in the midst of joy. 
 Yet knowing something, dimly though it be, 
 And therefore still more awful, of that strange 
 And most tumultuous thing, the heart of man, 
 It chanceth oft, that mix'd with Nature's smiles 
 BIy soul beholds a solemn quietness 
 That almost looks like grief, as if on earth 
 There were no perfect joy, and happiness 
 Still trembled on the brink of misery ! 
 
 Yea ! mournful thoughts like these even now arise. 
 While Spring, like Nature's smiling infancy, 
 Sports round me, and all images of peace 
 Seem native to this earth, nor other home 
 Desire or know. Yet doth a mystic chain 
 Link in our hearts foreboding fears of death 
 With every loveliest thing that seems to us 
 Most deeply fraught with Ufe. Is there a child 
 More beauteous than its playmates, even more pure 
 Than they ? while garing on its face, we think 
 That one so fair most surely soon will die ! 
 Such are the fears now beating at my heart. 
 Ere long, sweet Spring ! amid forgotten things 
 Thou and tliy smiles must sleep : thy little lambs 
 
ItflSeELLANEOUS POEMS. 191? 
 
 Dead, or their nature changed j thy hymning birds 
 Mute J — faded every flower so beautiful ; — 
 And all fair symptoms of incipient life 
 To fulness swollen, or sunk into decay ! 
 
 Such are the melancholy dreams that filled 
 In the elder time the songs of tenderest bards, 
 Whene'er they named the Spring. Thence, doubts 
 
 and fears 
 Of what might be the final doom of man ; 
 iTillall things spoke to their perplexed souls 
 IThe language of despair; and, mournful sight! 
 Even hope lay prosti'ate upon beauty's grave ! — 
 Vain fears of death ! breath'd forth in deathless lays ! 
 O foolish bards, immortal in your works. 
 Yet trustless of your immortality ! 
 Not now are they whom Nature calls her bards 
 Thus daunted by the image of decay. 
 They have their tears, and oft they shed them too, 
 By reason unreproach'd ; but on the pale 
 Cold cheek of death, they see a spiiit smile,^ 
 Bright and still brightening, even like thee, O 
 
 Spring ! 
 Stealing ia beauty tlnough the winter-snow I — 
 
 Season, beloved of Heaven ! my hymn is closet 
 And thou, sweet Lake ! on whose retired banks 
 
193 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 I have so long reposed, yet in the depth 
 Of meditation scarcely seen thy waves, 
 Farewell! — the voice of worship and of praise 
 Dies on my lips, yet shall my heart preserve 
 Inviolate the spirit whence it sprung ! 
 Even as a harp, when some wild plaintive strain 
 Goes with the hand that touch'd it, still retams 
 The soul of music sleeping in it strains. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 199 
 
 MELROSE ABBEY. 
 
 It was not when the Sun through the glittering sky, 
 
 In summer's joyful majesty, 
 
 Look'd from his cloudless height ;— V 
 
 [t was not when the Sun was sinking down, 
 
 And tinging the ruin's mossy brown 
 
 With gleams of ruddy light j — 
 
 Nor yet when the Moon, like a pilgrim fair, 
 
 Mid s(ar and planet journeyed slow, 
 
 And, mellowing the stillness of the air, 
 
 Smiled on the world below ; — 
 
 That, Melrose ! 'mid thy mouldering pride. 
 
 All breathless and alone, 
 
 I grasped the dreams to day denied. 
 
 High dreams of ages gone ! — 
 
 Had uushrieved guilt for one moment been there, 
 
 His heart had turn'd to stone ! 
 
 For oft, though felt no moving gale, H 
 
 Like restless ghost in glimmering shroud, 
 
 Through lofty Oriel opening pale 
 
 Was seen the hurrying cloud j 
 
 And, at doubtful distance, each broken wall 
 
 Frown'd black as bier's mysterious pall 
 
200 MISe£LLANEOVS POEMS. 
 
 From mountain-cave beheld by ghastly seer; 
 
 It seem'd as if sound had ceased to bej 
 
 Nor dust from arch, nor leaf from tree, 
 
 Relieved the noiseless ear. 
 
 The owl had sailed from her silent tower, 
 
 Tweed hush'd his weary wave. 
 
 The time was midnight's moonless hour, 
 
 My seat a dreaded Douglas' grave ! 
 
 My being was sublimed by joy, 
 My heart was big, yet I could not weep j 
 I felt that God would ne'er destroy 
 The mighty in their tranced sleep. 
 Within the pile no common dead 
 Lay blended with their kindred mould ; 
 Theirs were the hearts that pray'd, or bled, 
 In cloister dim, on death-plain red, 
 The pious and the bold. 
 There slept the saint whose holy strains 
 Brought seraphs round the dying bed j 
 And %ere the warrior, who to chains 
 Ne'er stoop'd his crested head, 
 I felt my spirit sink or swell 
 With patriot rage or lowly fear, 
 As battle-trump, or convent-bell, 
 Rung in my tranced ear. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. SOl 
 
 But dreams prevail'd of loftier mood, 
 When stern beneath tlie chancel high 
 My country's spectre-monarch stood, 
 All sheath'd in glittering panoply j 
 Then I thought with pride what noble blood 
 Had flow'd for the hills of liberty. 
 
 High the resolves that fill the brain 
 With transports trembling upon pain, 
 When the veil of time is rent in twain, 
 That hides the glory past ! 
 The scene may fade that gave them birth, 
 But they perish not with the perishing earth, 
 For ever shall they last. 
 And higher, I ween, is that mystic might 
 That comes to the soul from the silent night, 
 When she walks, like a disembodied spirit, " 
 
 Through realms her sister shades inherit, 
 And soft as the breath of those blessed flowers 
 That smile in Heaven's unfading bowers, 
 With love and awe, a voice she hears 
 Murmuring assurance of immortal years. 
 In hours of loneliness and woe 
 Which even the best and wisest know, 
 How leaps the lighten'd heart to sieze 
 On the bliss that comes with dreams like tliese ! 
 
 K 
 
20i iWISCEtLANKOUS POEMS. 
 
 As fair before the mental eye 
 
 The pomp and beauty of the dream return. 
 
 Dejected virtue calms her sigli, 
 
 And leans resign'd on memory's urn. 
 
 She feels how weak is mortal pain, 
 
 When each thought that starts to life again^ 
 
 Tells that she hath not lived in vain. 
 
 For Solitude, by Wisdom woo'd, 
 Is ever mistress of delight, 
 And even in gloom or tumult view'd, 
 She sanctifies their living blood 
 Who learn her lore aright. 
 The dreams her awful face imparts, 
 Unhallowed mirth destroy ; 
 Her griefs bestow on noble hearts 
 A nobler power of joy. 
 While hope and faith the soul thus fill, 
 We smile at chance distress, 
 And drink the cup of human ill 
 In stately happiness. 
 
 Thus even where death his empire keeps 
 Life holds the pageant vain, 
 And whftre the lofty spirit sleeps, 
 There lofty visions reign. 
 Ye J. often to night- wandering maix 
 
MISCELLANEOUS tOUVl*. 203 
 
 A pow'r fate's dim decree? to scan, 
 
 In lonely trance by bliss is given ; •• 
 
 And midnight's starless silence rolls 
 
 A giant vigour through our souls, 
 
 That stamps us sons of Heaven. 
 
 Then, Meluose ! Tomb of heroes old ! 
 Blest be the hour I dwelt with thee ; 
 The visions that can ne'er be told 
 That only poets in their joy can see, 
 The glory born above the sky 
 The deep-felt weight of sanctity ! 
 Thy massy towers I view no more 
 Through brooding darkness rising hoar, 
 Like a broad line of light dim seen 
 Some sable mountain-cleft between ! 
 Since that dread hour, hath human thought 
 A thousand gay creations brought 
 Before my earthly eye ; 
 I to the world have lent an ear, 
 Delighted all the while to hear 
 The voice of poor mortality. 
 Yetj not the less doth there abide 
 Deep in my soul a holy pride, 
 That knows by whom it was bestowed. 
 Lofty to man, but low to Goxl ; 
 
204 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Such pride as hymning angels cherish, 
 Blest iu the blaze where man would perish. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 205 
 
 EXTRACT 
 
 FROM AN UNFINISHED POEM, ENTITLED 
 
 « THE HEARTH." 
 
 j\l Y soul, behold the beauty of his home ! 
 The very heavens look down with gracious smiles 
 Upon its holy rest. How bright a green 
 Sleeps round the dwelling of two loving hearts ! 
 The air lies hush'd above the peaceful roof, 
 As if it felt the sanctity within. 
 On glides the river with a tranquil flow, 
 Delighting in his music, as he bathes 
 The happy bounds where happiness doth strays, 
 —I see them sitting by each other's side, 
 In the heart's silent secrecy ! I hear 
 The breath of meditation from theirsouls. 
 They speak : a soft, subduing tenderness, 
 Born of devotion, innocence and bliss. 
 Steals from their bosoms in a silver voice 
 That makes a pious hymning melody. 
 They look : a gleam of light as sadly sweet 
 As if they listened to some mournful tale, 
 
iJ06 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Swims in their eyes that almost melt to tears. 
 
 They smile : oh ! never did such languor steal 
 
 From lustre of two early-risen stars 
 
 When al! the silent heavens appear their own. 
 
 And lo ! an infant shews his gladsome face ! 
 
 His beautiful and shining golden head 
 
 Lies on his mother's bosom, like a rose 
 
 Fallen on a lilied bank. A dewy light 
 
 Meets the soft smiling of his upward eye, 
 
 A.8 in the playful restlessness of joy 
 
 He clings around her neck, and fondly strives 
 
 To reach the kisses mantling from her soul. 
 
 — And now, the baby in his cradle sleeps, 
 
 Hush'd by his mother's prayer ! How soft her tread 
 
 Falls, like a snow-flake, on the noiseless floor ! 
 
 She almost fears to breathe too fond a sigh 
 
 Towards the father of her darling child. 
 
 — Sleep broods o'er all the house : the mother's heart, 
 
 Beatiag within her husband's folding arms, 
 
 Dreams of sweet looks of waking happiness, 
 
 Unceasing greetings of congenial thought, 
 
 Deep bleadings of existence; till awoke 
 
 By the long stirring of delightful dreams, 
 
 She with a silent prayer of thankfulness 
 
 Leans gently-breathing on the breast of love 1 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 20? 
 
 Can guilt or misery ever enter here ? 
 Ah ! no; the spirit of domestic peace, 
 Though calm and gentle as the brooding dove^ 
 And ever murmuring forth a quiet song, 
 Guards, powerful as the sword of cherubim, 
 The hallow'd porch. She hath a heavenly smile 
 That sinks into the sullen soul of vice, 
 And wins him o'er to virtue, so transforms 
 The purpose of his heart, that sudden shame 
 Smothers the curses struggling into birth, 
 And makes him turn an eye of kindliness 
 Even on the blessings that he came to blast. 
 It is a lofty thought, O guardian love ! 
 To think that he who lives beneath thine eye 
 Can never be polluted. Pestilence, 
 The dire, contagious pestilence of sin 
 May walk abroad, and lay its victims low; 
 But they, whose upright spirits worship thee, 
 Breathe not the tainted air — they live apart 
 Unharm'd, as Israel's heaven-protected sons, 
 When the exterminating angel pass'd 
 With steps of blood o'er Egypt's groaning land. 
 Then ever keep unbroken and unstained 
 The sabbath-sanctity of home j the shrine 
 Where spirit in its rapture worships God. 
 By Heaven beloved for ever are the walls 
 
208 MISCELLAKEOUS POEMS. 
 
 That daly every morn and evening hear 
 Our whisper'd hymns ! Eternity broods there. 
 Yea ! like a father smiling on a band 
 Of happy children, the Almighty One 
 Dwells in the midst of us, appearing oft 
 In visible glory, while our filial souls, 
 Made pure beneath the watching of his eye, 
 Walk stately in the conscious praise of Heaven ! 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 209 
 
 THE 
 
 FRENCH EXILE. 
 
 X. 
 
 31 Y Mary ! wipe those tears away ^ * ' 
 That dim thy lovely eyes, 
 Nor, on that wild, romantic lay, 
 That leads through fairy worlds astray ^ 
 Waste all thy human sighs. 
 Come hither on the lightsome wing 
 Of innocence, and with thee bring 
 Thy smiles that warmly fall 
 Into the heart with sunny glowj 
 When once he tunes his harp to sing, 
 Thou wilt not be in haste to go.— 
 —The Minstrel's in the Hall ! 
 Quickly she started from her seat, 
 With blushing, virgin-grace j 
 Her long hair floating like a stream, 
 While through it shone with tender gleam 
 Her calm and pensive face ! 
 Soon as she heard the Minstrel's name, 
 Across her silent cheek there came, 
 A blythe yet pitying ray, 
 For often had she heard me tell 
 K 2 
 
21# MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Of the Frencli Exile, blind and lame, 
 Who sung and touch'd the harp so well — 
 — Old Louis Fontenaye. 
 
 Silent he sat his harp beside, 
 
 Upon an antique chair ; 
 
 And something of his country's pride 
 
 Did, exiled though he was, reside 
 
 Throughout his foreign air ! 
 
 A snow-white dog of Gascon breed, 
 
 "With ribands deck'd, was there to lead 
 
 His dark steps, — and secure 
 
 The paltry alms that traveller threw. 
 
 Alms that in truth he much did need, 
 
 For every child that saw him, knew 
 
 That he was wretched poor. 
 
 His harp with figures quaint and rare 
 Was deck'd, and strange device ; 
 There, you beheld the mermaid fair 
 In mirror braid her sea-green hair, 
 In wild and sportive guise. 
 There, on the imitated swell 
 The Tritons blew the wreathed shell 
 Around some fairy isle ; 
 —He fiamed it, when almost a child, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Long ere he left his native dell : 
 Who saw the antic carving wild 
 Could scarce forbear to smile. 
 
 With silver voice, the lady said, 
 She knew how well he sung — 
 — Starting, he raised his hoary head. 
 To hear from that kind-hearted maid 
 His own dear native tongue. 
 He scem'd as if restored to sight, 
 So suddenly his eyes grew bright 
 When that music touch'd his ear; 
 The liHed fields of France, I ween, 
 Before him swam in softened hght. 
 And the sweet waters of the Seine 
 They all are murmuring near. 
 
 ' Even now, his voice was humbly sad, 
 Subdued by woe and want; 
 So crush'd his heart, no wish he had 
 To feel for one short moment glad, 
 That hopeless Emigrant ? 
 —•The aged man is young again, 
 And cheerily chants a playful strain 
 While his face with rapture shines ; — 
 How rapidly his fingers glance 
 
^12 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 O'er the glad strings ! his giddy brain 
 Drinks in the chorus and the dance, 
 Beneath his clustering vines. 
 
 We saw it was a darling tune 
 
 With his old heart, — a cheer 
 
 That made all pains forgotten soon j— 
 
 Gay look'd he as a bird in June 
 
 That loves itself to hear. 
 
 Nor undelightfnl were the lays 
 
 That warm and flowery sung the praise 
 
 Of France's lovely queen, 
 
 When with the ladies of her court, 
 
 Like Flora and her train of fays, 
 
 She came at summer-eve to sport 
 
 Along the banks of Seine. 
 
 But fades the sportive roundelay ; 
 
 Both harp and voice are still ; 
 
 The dear delusion will not stay, 
 
 The murmuring Seine flows far away, 
 
 Sink cot and vine-clad hilt ! 
 
 Though his cheated soul is wounded sore, 
 
 His aged visage dimm'd once more, 
 
 The smile will not depart ; 
 
 But .struggles 'and the wvinkles there, 
 
^nSCELLANEOUS POEMS. 215 
 
 For he clings unto the parting shore, 
 And the morn of life so melting-fair, 
 Still lingers in his heart. 
 
 Ah me ! what touching silentness 
 
 Slept o'er the face divine 
 
 Of my dear maid ! methonght each ti ess 
 
 Hung 'mid the light of tenderness, 
 
 Like clouds in soft moonshine. 
 
 With artful innocence she tried 
 
 In languid smiles from me to hide 
 
 Her tears that fell like rain ; — 
 
 But when she felt I must perceive 
 
 The drops of heavenly pity glide, 
 
 She own'd she could not chuse but grieve, 
 
 So gladsome was the strain ! 
 
 If when his griefs once more began, 
 
 His eyes had been restored, 
 
 And met her face so still and wan, 
 
 How had that aged, exiled man 
 
 The pitying saint adored ! 
 
 Yet though the angel light that play 'd 
 
 Aiound her face, pierced not the shade 
 
 That veil'd his eyiiballs dim, — 
 
 Yet to his ear her murmurs stole. 
 
 And, with a faltering voice^ he said 
 
214 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 That he felt them sink into his soul 
 Like the blessed Virgin's hymn ! 
 
 He pray'd that Heaven its flowers would strew 
 
 On both our heads through life, 
 
 With such a tone, as told he knew 
 
 She was a virgin fond and true, 
 
 Mine own betrothed wife! 
 
 And something too he strove to say 
 
 In praise of our green isle, — how they 
 
 Her generous children, though at war 
 
 With France, and both on field and wave 
 
 Encountering oft in fierce array, 
 
 Would not from home or quiet grave 
 
 Her exiled sons debar ! 
 
 Long was the aged Harper gone 
 
 Ere Mary well could speak, — 
 
 So I cheerd her soul with loving tone, 
 
 And, happy that she was my own, 
 
 I kiss'd her dewy cheek. 
 
 And, when once more I saw the ray 
 
 Of mild-returning pleasure play 
 
 Within her glistening eyes, 
 
 I bade the gentle maiden go 
 
 And read again that Fairy lay> 
 
MISCELl'ANEOrS POEMS. 215 
 
 Since she could weep, 'mid fancied woe, 
 O'er real miseries. 
 
216 ftlittC£Lt^N£OUS POEMS. 
 
 THE 
 
 THREE SEASONS OF LOVE. 
 
 With laughter swimming in thine eye, 
 
 That told youth's heartfelt revelry j 
 
 And motion cliangeful as the wing 
 
 Of swallow waken'd by the spring ; 
 
 With accents blythe as voice of May 
 
 Chanting glad Nature's roundelay ; 
 
 Circled by joy like planet bright 
 
 That smiles 'mid wreathes of dewy light, — 
 
 Thy image such, in former time, 
 
 When thou, just entering on tliy prime, 
 
 And woman's sense in thee combined 
 
 Gently with childhood's simplest mind. 
 
 First taught'st my sighing soul to move 
 
 With hope towards the heaven of love ! 
 
 Now years have given my Mary's face 
 
 A thoughtful and a^quiet grace : — 
 
 Though happy still, — yet chance distress 
 
 Hath left a pensive loveliness ; 
 
 Fancy has tamed her fairy gleams, 
 
 And thy heart broods o'er heme-boro dreams! 
 
 Thy smiles, slow-kindling now and mild, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 217 
 
 Shower blessings on a darling child ; 
 Thy motion slow, and soft thy tread, 
 As if round thy husht infant's bed ! — 
 And when thou speak'st, thy melting tone, 
 That tells thy heart is all my own. 
 Sounds sweeter, from the lapse of years, 
 With the wife's love, the mother's fears ! 
 
 By thy glad youth, and tranquil prime 
 Assured, I smile at hoary time! 
 For thou art doom'd in age to know 
 The calm that wisdom steals from woe j 
 The holy pride of high intent. 
 The glory of a life well -spent. 
 When earth's affections nearly o'er, 
 With Peace behind, and Faith before, 
 Thou render'st up again to God, 
 Untarnish'd by its frail abode, 
 Thy lustrous soul, — then harp and hyma, 
 From bands of sister seraphim. 
 Asleep will lay thee, till thine eye 
 Open in Immortality. 
 
Ci8 WISCELLANEOUI POEMS. 
 
 TO 
 
 A SLEEPING CHILD. 
 
 Art thou a thing of mortal birth, 
 Whose happy hotne is on our earth ? 
 Does human blood with life embne 
 Those wandering veins of heavenly blue, 
 That stray along thy forehead fair. 
 Lost 'raid a gleam of golden hair? 
 Oh ! can that light and airy breath 
 Steal from a being doom'd to death j 
 Those features to the grave be sent 
 In sleep thus mutely eloquent; 
 Or, art thou, what thy form would seem, 
 The phantom of a blessed dream ? 
 A human shape I feel thou art, 
 I feel it, at my beating heart, 
 Those tremors both of soul and sense 
 Awoke by infant innocence ! 
 Though dear the forms by fancy wove, 
 We love them with a transient love ; 
 Thoughts from the living world intrude 
 
MISCELLANEOUS ]I^OEMS. 219 
 
 Even on her deepest solitude : 
 But, lovely child ! thy magic stole 
 At once into my inmost seal, 
 With feelings as thy beauty fair, 
 And left no other vision there. 
 
 To me thy parents are unknown; 
 Glad would they be their child to own! 
 And well they must have loved before, 
 If since thy birth they loved not more. 
 Thou art a branch of noble stem, 
 And, seeingithee, I figure them. 
 What many a childless one would give, 
 If thou in their still home wouldst live ! 
 Though in thy face no family-line 
 Might sweetly say, " This babe is mine !' 
 In time thou wouldst become the same 
 As their own child, — all but the name ! 
 
 How happy must thy parents be 
 Who daily live in sight of thee ! 
 Whose hearts no greater pleasure seek 
 Thau see thee smile, and hear thee speak. 
 And feel all natural griefs beguiled 
 By thee, their fond, their duteous child. 
 What joy must in their souls have stirr'd 
 
2S0 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 When thy first broken words were heard, 
 Words, that, insphed by Heaven, express'd 
 The transports dancing in thy breast! 
 As for thy smile I — thy lip, cheek, brow, 
 Even while I gaze, are kindling now. 
 
 I called thee duteous : am I wrong ? 
 No ! truth, I feel, is in my song: 
 Duteous thy heart's still beatings move 
 To God, to Nature, and to Love ! 
 To God ! — for thou a harmless child 
 Hast kept his temple undefiled : • 
 To Nature !— for thy tears and sighs 
 Obey alone her mysteries : 
 To Love ! — for fiends of hate might see 
 Thou dwell'st in love, and love in thee! 
 What wonder then, though in thy dreams 
 Thy face with mystic meaning beams ! 
 
 Oh ! that my spirit's eye could see 
 Whence burst those gleams of extacy ? 
 That light of dreaming soul appears 
 To play from thoughts above thy years. 
 Thou smil'st as if thy soul were soaring 
 To Heaven, and Heaven's God adoring ! 
 And who can tell what visions high 
 May bless an infant's sleeping eye ? 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 221 
 
 What brighter throne can brightness find 
 To reign on than an infant's mind, 
 Ere sin destroy, or error dim, 
 The glory of the Seraphim? 
 
 But now thy changing smiles express 
 
 Intelligible happiness. 
 
 I feel my soul thy soul partake. 
 
 What grief! if thou shouldst cow awake ! 
 
 With infants happy as thyself 
 
 I see thee bound, a playful elf: 
 
 I see thou art a darling child 
 
 Among thy playmates, bold and wild. 
 
 They love thee well ; thou art thee queen 
 
 Of all their sports, in bower or green 5 
 
 And if thou livest to woman's height, 
 
 In thee will friendship, love delight. 
 
 And live thou surely must ; thy life 
 Is far too spiritual for the strife 
 Of mortal pain, nor could disease 
 Find heart to prey on smiles like thesc^ 
 Oh ! thou wilt be an angel bright! 
 To those tiiou lovest, a saving light I 
 The staff of age, the help sublime 
 Of erring youth, and stubborn prime; 
 
CSS JMISCBLLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 And when thou goest to Heaven again, 
 
 Thy vanishing be like the strain 
 
 Of airy harp, so soft the tone 
 
 The ear scarce knows when it is gone ! 
 
 Thvice blessed he! whose stars design 
 
 His spirit pure to lean on thine ; 
 
 \nd watchful share for days and years, 
 
 Thy sorrows, joys, sighs, smiles, and tears ! 
 
 For good and guiltless as tliou art, 
 
 Some transient griefs will touch thy hearty 
 
 Griefs that along thy alter'd face 
 
 Will breathe a more subduing grace, 
 
 Than ev'n those looks of joy that lie 
 
 On the soft cheek of infancy. 
 
 Though looks, God knows, are cradled there 
 
 That guilt might cleanse, or sooth despair. 
 
 Oh ! vision fair ! that I could be 
 Again, as young, as pure as thee ! 
 Vaiu wish ! the rainbow's radiant form 
 May view, but cannot brave the storm ; 
 Years can bedim the gorgeous dies 
 That paint the bird of paradise, 
 And years, so fate hath order'd, roll 
 Clouds o'er the summer of the soul. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 323 
 
 Yet, sometimes, sudden sights of grace, » 
 
 Such as the gladness of thy face, 
 
 O sinless babe ! by God are given 
 
 To charm the wanderer back to Heaven. 
 
 No common impulse hath me led 
 To this green spot, thy quiet bed, 
 Where, by mere gladness overcome. 
 In sleep thou dreamest of thy home. 
 When to the lake I would have gone, 
 A wondrous beauty drew me on, 
 Such beauty as the spirit sees 
 In glittering fields, and moveless trees, 
 After a warm and silent shower, 
 Ere falls on earth the twilight hour. 
 What led me hither, all can say. 
 Who, knowing God, his will obey. 
 
 Thy slumbers now cannot be long : 
 
 Thy little dreams become too strong 
 
 For sleep, — too like realities : 
 
 Soon shall I see those hidden eyes ! 
 
 Thou wakest, and, starting from the ground; 
 
 In dear amazement look'st around ; 
 
 Like one who, little given to roam. 
 
 Wonders to find herself from home ' 
 
224 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 But, when a stranger meets thy view, 
 Glistens thine eye with wilder hue. 
 A moment's thought who I may be, 
 Blends with thy smiles of courtesy. 
 Fair was that face as break of dawn, 
 When o'er its beauty sleep was drawn 
 Like a thin veil that half-conceal'd 
 The light of soul, and half-reveal'd. 
 While thy hush'd heart with visions wrought, 
 Each trembling eye-lash moved with thought, 
 And things we dream, but ne'er can speak, 
 Like clouds came floating o'er thy cheek, 
 Such summer-clouds as travel light, 
 When the soul's heaven lies calm and bright j 
 Till thou awok'st, — then to tliine eye 
 Thy whole heart leapt in extacy ! 
 
 And lovely is that heart of thine, 
 Or sure these eyes could never shine 
 With such a wild, yet bashful glee, 
 Gay, half-o'ercome timidity ! 
 Nature has breath'd into thy face 
 A spirit of unconscious grace } 
 A spirit that lies never still. 
 And makes thee joyous 'gainst thy will. 
 
Miscellaneous poems. S25 
 
 As sometimes o'er a sleeping lake 
 Soft airs a gentle ripling make, 
 riJl, ere we know, the strangers fly, 
 And water blends again with sky. 
 
 Oh ! happy sprite ! didst thou but know 
 
 M^hat pleasures through my being flow 
 
 From thy soft eyes, a holier feeling 
 
 From their blue light could ne'er be stealing 
 
 But thou wouldst be more loth to part 
 
 And give rae more of that glad heart ! 
 
 Oh ! gone thou art ! and bearest hence 
 
 riie glory of thy innocence. 
 
 But with deep joy I breathe the air 
 
 That kiss'd tiiy cheek, and fann'd thy hair, 
 
 ^nd feel though fate our lives must sever 
 
 iTet shall thy image live for ever ! 
 
 ^o> 
 
''*^ MISCELLANEOUS FORMS. 
 
 MY COTTAGE. 
 
 ( One small spot 
 Where my tired mind may rest and call it home. 
 There is a magic in that little word ; 
 It is a mystic circle that surrounds 
 Comforts and virtues never known beyond 
 The hallowed limit.^ 
 
 Southey^s Hymn to the Penatef* 
 
 -Here have I found at last a home of peace 
 To hide me from the world ; far from its noise, 
 To feed that spirit, which, though sprung from earth, 
 And link'd to human beings by the bond 
 Of earthly love, hath yet a loftier aim 
 Than perishable joy, and through the calm 
 That sleep* amid the mountain-solitude, 
 Can hear the billows of eternity, 
 And hear delighted. 
 
 Many a mystic gleam, 
 Lou^ely though faint, of imaged happiness 
 Fell on my youthful heart, as oft her light 
 Smiles on a wandering cloud, ere the fair Moon ■ 
 Hath risen in the sky. And oh ! Ye dreams 
 That to such spiritual happiness could shape 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 227 
 
 The lonely rcvefips of ir.y boyi?h days. 
 Are ye at last fulfill'd i Ye fairy scenes 
 Tliat to the doubting gaze of prophecy 
 Rose lovely, with yonr fields of sunny green, 
 Your sparkling rivulets and hanging groves 
 Of more than rainbow lustre, where the swing 
 Of woods primeval darken'd the still depth 
 Of lakes bold-sweeping round their guardian hills, 
 Even like the arms of Ocean, where the roar 
 Sullen and far from mountain cataract 
 AV'as heard amid the silence, like a thought 
 Of solemn mood that tames the dancing soul 
 When swarming with delight j — Ye fairy scenes ! 
 Fancied no more, but bursting on my heart 
 In living beauty, with adoring song 
 I bid you hail! and with as holy love 
 As ever beautified the eye of saint 
 Hymning his midnight orisons, to yon 
 I consecrate my life, — till the dim stain 
 Left by those worldly and unhallow'd thoughts 
 That taint the purest soul, by bliss destroyed, 
 My spirit travel like a summer sun, 
 Itself all glory, and its path alljoy. 
 
 Nor will the musing penance of the soul, 
 Perform'd by moonlight, or the setting sun, 
 
f2S MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 To hymn of swinging oak, or the wild flow 
 Of mountain-torrent, ever lead her on 
 To virtue, but through peace. For Nature speaks 
 A parent's language, and, in tones as mild 
 As e'er hush*d infant on its mother's breast, 
 Wins ns to learn her lore. Yea! even to guilt, 
 Though in her image something terrible 
 Weigh down his being with a load of awe. 
 Love mingles with her wrath, like tender light 
 Stream'd o'er a dying storm. And thus where'er 
 Man feels as man, the earth is beautiful. 
 His blessings sanctify even senseless things. 
 And the wide world in cheerful loveliness 
 Returns to him i ts joy. The summer air, 
 Whose glittering stillness sleeps within his soul. 
 Stirs with its own delight : The verdant earth. 
 Like beauty waking from a happy dream, 
 Lies smiling : Each fair cloud to him appears 
 A pilgrim travelling to the shrine of peace; 
 And the wild wave, tliat wantons on the sea, 
 A gay though homeless stranger. Ever blest 
 The man who thus beholds the golden chain 
 Linking his soul to outward Nature fair. 
 Full oftbe living God! 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 229 
 
 And where, ye haunts 
 Of grandeur and of beauty ! shall the heart, 
 That yearns for high communion with its God, 
 Abide, if e'er its dreams have been of you ? 
 The loveliest sounds, forms, hues, of all the earth 
 Linger dehghted here : Here guilt might come, 
 With sullen soul abhorring Nature's joy, 
 And in a moment be restored to Heaven. 
 Here sorrow, with a dimness o'er his face, 
 Might be beguiled to smiles, — almost forget 
 His sufferings, and, in Nature's living book, 
 Read characters so lovely, that his heart 
 Would, as it bless'd them, feel a rising swell 
 Almost like joy I — O earthfy paradise ! 
 Of many a secret anguish hast thou healed 
 Him, who now greets thee with a joyful strain. 
 
 And oh ! if in those elevated hopes 
 That lean on virtue, — in those high resolves 
 That brinjj the future close upon the soul. 
 And nobly dare its dangers j — if in joy 
 Whose vital spring is more than innocence, 
 Yea ! Faith and Adoration ! — if the soul 
 Of man may trust to these, — and they are strong, 
 Strong as the prayer of dying penitent, — 
 My being shall be bliss. For witness. Thou! 
 Oh Mighty Gnu! whose saving love has stolea 
 
230 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 On the deep peace of moon-beams to my heart, — 
 
 Thou ! who M-ith looks of mercy oft hasi cheer'd 
 
 The starry silence, when, at noon of night, 
 
 On some wild mountain thou hast not declined • 
 
 The homage of thy lonely worshipper, — 
 
 Bear witness Thou! tliat, both in joy and grief, 
 
 The love of nature long hath been with me 
 
 The love of virtue : — that the solitude 
 
 Of the remotest hills to me hath been 
 
 Thy temple: — that the fountain's happy voice 
 
 Hath sung thy goodness, an I thy power has stnnn'd 
 
 My spirit iu the roaring cataract ! 
 
 Such solitude to me ! Yet are there hearts, — 
 Worthy of good men's love, nor unadorn'd 
 With sense of moral beauty, — to the joy 
 That dwells within the Almighty's outward shrine, 
 Senseless and cold. Aye, there are men who see 
 The broad sun sinking in a blaze of light, 
 Nor feel their disembodied spirits hail 
 With adoration the departing God ; 
 Who on the night-sky, when a cloudless moon 
 Glides in still beauty through unnuuiber'd stars, 
 Can turn the eye unmoved, as if a wall 
 Of darkness screen'd the glory from their souis. 
 With humble pride I bless the Holy One 
 For sights to these denied. And oh ! how oft i 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 231 
 
 In seasons of depression, — when the lamp 
 
 Of lite buru'd dim, and all unpleasant thoughts 
 
 Subdued the proud aspirings of the soul,— 
 
 When doubts and fears withheld the timid eye 
 
 From scanning scenes to come, and a deep sense 
 
 Of human frailty turn'd the past to pain, 
 
 How oft have I remember'd that a world 
 
 Of glory lay around rae, that a source 
 
 Of lofty solace lay in every star, 
 
 And that no being need behold the sun. 
 
 And grieve, that knew Who hung him in the sky. 
 
 Thtis unpereeived I woke from heavy grief 
 
 To airy joy: and seeing that the mind 
 
 Of man, though still the image of his God, 
 
 Lean'd by his will on various happiness, 
 
 I felt that all was good ; that faculties. 
 
 Though low,4»ig4Tt constitute, if rightly used, 
 
 True wisdom ; and when man hath here attain'd 
 
 The purpose of his being, he will sit 
 
 Near Mercy's throne, whether his course hath jbeen 
 
 Prone on the earth's dim sphere, or, as with wing 
 
 Of viewless eagle, round the central blaze. 
 
 Then ever shall the day that led me here 
 Be held in blest remembrance. I shall see, 
 Even at my dying hour, the glorious sun 
 
232 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 That made Winander one wide wave of gold, 
 
 When first in transport from the mountain top 
 
 I hail'd the heavenly vision ! Not a cloud. 
 
 Whose wreaths lay smiling in tlie lap of light, 
 
 Not one of all those sister-isles that sleep 
 
 Together, like a happy family 
 
 Of beauty and of love, but v?ill arise 
 
 To cheer my parting spirit, and to tell 
 
 That Nature gently leads unto the grave 
 
 All who have read her heart, and kept their own 
 
 In kindred holiness. 
 
 But ere that hour 
 Of awful triumph, I do hope that years 
 Await me, when the unconscious power of joy 
 Creating wisdom, the bright dreams of soul 
 Will humanize the heart, and I shall be^ 
 More worthy to be loved by those whose love 
 Is highest praise :— that by the living light 
 That burns for ever in affection's breast, 
 I sliall behold how fair and beautiful 
 A human form may be. — Oh, there are tlaoughts 
 That slumber in the sonl, like sweetest sounds 
 Amid the haip's loose strings, till airs from Heaven 
 On earth, at dewy night-fall, visitant, 
 Awake the sleeping melody ! Such thoughts, 
 
 
MFSCEtLANEOUS POBMS. 2S3 
 
 My gentle Mary, I have owed to thee. 
 And if thy voice e'er melt into my soul 
 With a dear honae-toned whisper,— if thy face 
 E'er brighten in the unsteady gleams of light 
 From our own cottage-hearth ;--0 Mary ! then 
 My overpowered spirit will recline 
 Upon thy inmost heart, till it become, 
 O sinless seraph ! almost worthy thee. 
 
 Then will the earth,— that oft-times to the eye 
 Of solitary lover seems o'erhung 
 With too severe a shade, and faintly smiles 
 With ineffectual beauty on his heart, — 
 Be clothed with everlasting joy ; like land 
 Of blooming faery, or of boyhood's dreams 
 Ere life's first flush is o'er. Oft shall I tuna 
 My vision from the glories of the scene 
 To read them in thine eyes; and hidden grace, 
 That slumbers in the crimson clouds of Even, 
 Will reach my spirit through their varyhig light. 
 Though viewless in the sky. Wandering with thee, 
 A thousand beauties never seen before 
 Will glide with sweet surprise into my soul. 
 Even iii those fields where each particular tree 
 Wds look'd on as a tVicul, — where I had bt en 
 Frequeni, for years, among the lonely glens. 
 
 L 2 
 
334 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Nor, 'mid the quiet of reflecting bliss, 
 Will the faint image of the distant world 
 Ne'er float before us : — Cities will arise 
 Among the clouds that circle round the sun, 
 Gorgeous with tower and temple. The night- voice 
 Of flood and mountain to our ear will seem 
 Like life's loud stir: — ^And, as the dream dissolves, 
 With burning spirit we will smile to see 
 Only the Moon rejoicing in the sky, 
 And the still grandeur of the eternal hills. 
 
 ' Yet, though the fulness of domestic joy - 
 Bless our united beings, and the home 
 Be ever happy where thy smiles are seen, 
 Though human voice might never touch our ear 
 From lip of friend or brother ; — yet, oh! think 
 What pure benevolence will warm our hearts, 
 When with the nndelayiog steps of love 
 Through yon o'ershadojkving wood we dimly see 
 A coming friend, far distant then believed. 
 And all unlook'd-for. When the short distrust 
 Of unexpected joy no more constrains, 
 And the eye's welcome brings him to our arms, 
 With gladden'd spirit he will quickly own 
 That true love ne'er was selfish, and that man 
 We'er knew the whole affection of his heart 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEIvh. 235 
 
 Till resting on another's. If from scenes 
 
 Of noisy life he come, and in his soul 
 
 The love of Nature^ like a long-past dream, 
 
 If e'er it stir, yield but a dim delight, 
 
 Oh ! we shall lead him where the genial power 
 
 Of beauty, working by the wavy green 
 
 Of hill-ascending wood, the misty gleam 
 
 Of lakes reposing in their peaceful vales, 
 
 And, lovelier than the loveliness below, 
 
 The moonlight Heaven, shall to his blood restore 
 
 An undisturbed flow, such as he felt 
 
 Pervade his being, morning, noon, and night, 
 
 When youth's bright years pass'd happily aviay, 
 
 Among his native hilis, and all he knew 
 
 Of crowded cities, was from passing tale 
 
 Of traveller, half believed, and soon forgotten. 
 
 And fear not, Mary', that, when winter comes, 
 These solitary mountains will resign 
 The beauty that pervades their mighty frames, 
 Even like a living soul. The gleams of light 
 Hurrying in joyful tumult o'er the cliffs, 
 And giving to our musings raany a burst 
 Of sudden grandeur, even as if the eye 
 Of God were wandering o'er the lovely wild, 
 Pleased with his own creation; — the still joy 
 
0g^ ailSCEIXANEOUd POEMS. 
 
 i 
 
 Of cloudless skies j and the delighted voice 
 Of /ivmning fountains, — these will leave awhile 
 The altered earth : — But other attributes 
 Of Nature's heart will rule, and in the storm 
 We shall behold the same prevailing Power 
 That slumbers in the calm, and sanctify, 
 
 With adoration, the delight of love. 
 
 ****** m 
 
 I lift my eyes upon the radiant Moon, 
 That long unnoticed o'er my head has held 
 Her soUtary walk, and as her light 
 Recals my wandering soul, I start to feel 
 That all has been a dream. Alone I stand 
 Amid the silence. Onward rolls the stream 
 Of time, while to my ear its waters sound 
 With a strange rushing music. O njy soul! 
 Whate'er betide, for aye remember thou 
 These mystic warnings, for they arc of Heaven, 
 
SflSCELLANSOUS POEMS. 237 
 
 LINES 
 
 Written on the banks of winandermfre, on 
 recovery from a dangerous illness. 
 
 Once more, dear Lake ! alon? thy banks I rove, 
 
 And bless thee in my heart that flows with 4ove. 
 
 Methinks, as life's awakening embers burn, 
 
 Nature rejoices in her son's return ; 
 
 And, like a parent after absence long, 
 
 Sings from her heart of hearts a cheerful song. 
 
 Oh! that fi-esh breeze through all my being stole. 
 
 And made sweet music in my gladden'dsoul ! 
 
 To me, just rescued from the opening grave, 
 
 How bright the radiance of the dancing wave I 
 
 A gleam of joy, a soft endearing smile, 
 
 Plays 'mid the greenness of each sylvan isle, 
 
 And, in the bounty of aifection, showers 
 
 A loving welcome o'er these blissful bowers. 
 
 Quick glides the hymning streamlet, to partake 
 
 The deep enjoyment of the happy lake ; 
 
 The pebbles, sparkling through the yellow brook, 
 
 Seem to my gaze to Vsear a livelier look ; 
 
 And little \Tild-flowers, that in carel$i>s health 
 
S38 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Lay round try path in unregarded wealth, 
 In laughing beauty court my eyes again, 
 Like friends unchanged by coldness or disdain. 
 Now life and joy are one : — to Earth, Air, Heaven^ 
 An undisturbed jubilee is given ; 
 While, happy as in dreams, I seem to fly, 
 Skimming the ground, or soaring through the sky. 
 And feel, with sudden life-pervading glee. 
 As if this rapture all were made for me. 
 
 And well the glory to my soul is known ; 
 For mystic visions stamped it as my own. 
 While sickness lay, like ice, upon ray breath, 
 With eye prophetic, through the shades of death 
 That brooded o'er me like a dreary night 
 This beauteous scene I saw in living light. 
 No friend was near me : and a heavy gloom 
 Lay in deep silence o'er the lonely room j 
 Even hope had fled ; and as in parting strife 
 My soul stood trembling on the brink of hfe, — 
 When lo ! sweet sounds like those that now I hear, 
 Of stream and zephyr stole into my ear. 
 Far through my heart the mingled music ran, 
 Like tones of mercy to a dying man. 
 Kejoicing in the rosy morning's birth. 
 Like new-waked beauty lay the dewy earth ; 
 
MrSCELLANEOUS POEMS. 239 
 
 The niighfy sun I saw, as now I see, 
 And my soul shone with kindred majesty: 
 Cahn smiled the lake ; and from that smile arose 
 Faith, hope, and trust, oblivion of my woes: 
 I felt that I should live ; nor could despair 
 Bedim a scene so glorious, and so fair. 
 
 Now is the vision truth. Disease hath flown, 
 And in the midst of joy I stand alone. 
 The eye of God is on me : the wide sky 
 Is sanctified with present Deitj', 
 And, at his bidding, Nature's aspect mild 
 Pours healing influence on her wasted child. 
 My eye now brightens with the brightening scene, 
 Cheer'd with the hues of kind restoring green j 
 As with a lulling sound the fountain flows, 
 My tingling ear is filled with still repose; 
 The summer silence, sleeping on the plain, 
 Sends settled quiet to my dizzy brain j 
 And the moist freshness of the glittering wood 
 Cools with a heart-felt dew my feverish blood. 
 
 O blessed lake ! thy spaillirg waters roll 
 Health to my frame, and rapture to my soul. 
 Emblem of peace, of innocence, and love ! 
 Sleeping in beauty given thee from above : 
 
240 mSCELCANEOUS P0EM9. 
 
 This earth delighting in thy gentle breast, 
 
 And the glad heavens attending on thy rest!* 
 
 Can he e'er turn from virtue's quiet bowers, 
 
 All fragrant dropping with inimortal,flower8, . 
 
 Whose inward eye, as with a magic art, 
 
 Beholds thy glory imaged in his heart ? 
 
 No ! he shall live, from guilt and vice afar, 
 
 As in the silent Heaven some lonely star. 
 
 A light shall be around him to defend 
 
 The holy head of Nature's bosom friend. 
 
 And if the mists of error e'er should come 
 
 To that bright sphere whore virtue holds her heme, 
 
 She has a cbami to scare the intruder thencej 
 
 Or, povi?erful in her spotless innocence, 
 
 With one cahn look her spirit will transform 
 
 To a fair cloud the heralds of the storm. 
 
 Nor less, Winander ! to thy power T own 
 Rays of delight amid the gloom of woe. 
 Yes ! oft, when self tormenting fancy framed 
 Forms of dim fear that grief has never named ; 
 When the whole world seem'd void of mental cheer, 
 Nor spring nor summer in the. joyltss year, 
 Oft has thy image of upbraiding love, 
 Seen on a sudden through some opening grove. 
 Even like the tender unexpected smile 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POBSIS. 241 
 
 Of some dear friend I had forgot the while, 
 In silence said, " My son, why not partake 
 " The peace now brooding o'er thy darling lake? 
 " Oh ! why in sullen discontent destroy 
 " The law of Nature, Universal Joy ? " 
 
 Sweet lake ! I listen to thy guardian voice ; 
 I look abroad ; and, looking, I rejoice. 
 My home is here; ah! never shall we part, 
 Till life's last pulse hath left my wasted heart. 
 True that another land first gave me birth. 
 And other lakes beheld my infant mirth : 
 Far from these skies dear friendships have I known, 
 And still in memory lives that soften'd tone ; 
 Yet though the image of ray earlier years 
 'Mid Scotland's mountains dim my eyes with tears. 
 And the heart's day-dreams oft will lingering dwell 
 On that wild region which she loves so well, — 
 Think not, sweet Lake ! before my years are told, 
 My love for thee and thine can e'er grow cold : 
 For here hath Hope fix'd her last earthly bound, 
 And where Hope rests in peace, is hallow'd ground. 
 
 And oh ! if e'er that happy time shall come. 
 When she I love sits smihng in ray home. 
 And, oft as chance may bid us meet or part, 
 
242 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Speaks the soff word that slides into the heart, 
 
 Tlun fair as now thon art, yea! passing fair, 
 
 Thy scarce-seen waters nieitnig into air, 
 
 Far lovelier gleams will dance upon thy breast, ^ 
 
 And thine isles bend their trees in deeper rest. 
 
 Then will my joy-enlighten'd sonl descry 
 
 All that is beantit'ul on land or sky ; 
 
 For, when the heart is calm with pnre delight, 
 
 Revels the soul 'mid many a glorious sight. 
 
 The earth then kindles with a vernal giace, 
 
 Glad as the laugh upon an infant-face : 
 
 The sun himself is clothed with vaster light, 
 
 And showers of gentler sadness bathe the night. 
 
 Dreams of delight! while thus I fondly weave 
 Your fairy-folds, Oh ! can ye e'er deceive? 
 Are ye in vain to cheated mortals given, 
 Lovely impostors in the garb of Heaven? 
 Fears, hopes, doubts, wishes, hush my pensive shell, 
 Fouut of thein all, dear Lake ! farewell ! farewell ! 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. S48 
 
 APOLOGY 
 
 FOR THE LITTLE NAVAL TEMPLE, ON STORRS' 
 POINT, WINANDERMERE. 
 
 JN AY ! Stranger ! smile not at this little dome, 
 Albeit quaint, and >yith no nice regard 
 To highest rules of grace and symmetry, 
 I'laything of art, it venture thus to stand 
 'Mid the great forms of Nature. Doth it seem 
 A vain intruder in the quiet heart 
 Of this majestic Lake, that like an arm 
 Of Ocean, or some Indian river vast, 
 In beauty floats amid its guardian hills? 
 Haply it may: yet in this humble tower, 
 The mimicry of loftier edifice, 
 There lives a silent spirit, that confers 
 A lasting charter on its sportive wreath 
 Of battlements, amid the mountain-calm 
 To stand as proudly, as yon giant rock 
 That with his shadow dims the dazzling lake 1 
 
 Then blame it not: for know 'twas planted here^ 
 Id mingled mood of seriousness aud mirth} 
 
244 MISCELLANEOUS POEM$» 
 
 By one* who lueant to Nature's sanctity 
 No cold nnmeaning outrage. He was one 
 Who often in adventurous youth had sail'd 
 O'er the great waters, and he dearly loved 
 Their music wild ; nor less the gallant souls 
 Whose home is on the Ocean : — so he framed 
 This jutting mole, that like a natural cape 
 Meets the soft-breaking waves, and on its point, 
 Bethinking him of some sea-structure huge, 
 Watch-tower or light-house, rear'd this mimic dom?, 
 Seen up and down the lake, a monument 
 Sacred to images of former days. 
 
 See ! in the playfulness of English zeal 
 Its low walls are emblazon'd ! there thou read'st 
 Howe, Duncan, Vincent, and that mightier name 
 Whom death has made immortal. — Not misplaced 
 On temple rising from an inland sea 
 Such venerable names, though ne'er was heard 
 The sound of cannon o'er these tranquil shores, 
 Save when it peal'd to waken in her cave 
 The mountain echo : yet this chronicle, 
 Speaking of war amid the depths of peace. 
 Wastes not its meaning on the heedless air. 
 
 J I ' — "" " "I" 
 
 • The late Sir John Legard, Bart, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 2i& 
 
 It hath its worshippers : it sends a voice, 
 A voice creating elevated thoughts, 
 Into the hearts of our bohl peasantry 
 Following the plough along these fertile vales, 
 Or up among the misty solitude 
 Beside the wild sheep-fold. The fishermen, 
 Who on the clear wave ply their silent trade, 
 Oft passing lean upon their dripping oars. 
 And bless the heroes : Idling in the joy 
 Of summer sunshine, as in light canoe 
 The stranger glides among these lovely isles, 
 This little temple to his startled soul 
 Oft sends a gorgeous vision, gallant crews 
 In fierce joy cheering as they onwards bear 
 To break the line of battle, meteor-like 
 Long ensigns brightening on the towery mast. 
 And sails in awful silence o'er the main 
 Lowering like thunder-clouds! — 
 
 Then, stranger ! give 
 A blessing on this temple, and admire 
 The gaudy pendant round the painted staff 
 Wreathed in still splendour, or in wauton folds, 
 Even like a serpent bright and beautiful. 
 Streaming its burnished glory on the air. 
 And whether silence sleep upon the stones 
 
246 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 
 
 Of this small edifice, or from within 
 
 Steal the glad voice of lanirhter and of song, 
 
 Pass on with alter'd thonfjhts, and jjently own 
 
 That Windermere, with all her radiant ibles 
 
 Serenely floatios; on her azure breast, 
 
 Like.stars in heaven, with kindest smiles may ro be 
 
 This monument, to heroes dedicate, 
 
 Nor Nature feel her holy reisjn profaned 
 
 By work of art, though framed m liumblest guise, 
 
 When a high spirit prompts the builder's soul. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 347 
 
 PICTURE 
 
 OP 
 
 A BLIND M4N, 
 
 Why" sits so long beside yon cottage-door 
 That aged man with tresses thin and hoar? 
 Fix'd are his eyes in one continued gaze, 
 Nor seem to feel the sun's meridian blaze ; 
 Yet are the orbs with youth-like colours bright. 
 As o'er the Iris falls the trembling light. 
 Changeless his mien ; not even one flitting trace 
 Of spirit wanders o'er his furrow'd face ; 
 No feeling moves his venerable head : 
 — He sitteth there — an emblem of the dead ! 
 The staff of age lies near him on the seat, 
 His faithful dog is slumbering at his feet, 
 And yon fair child, who steals an hour for play 
 While thus her father rests upon his way, 
 Her sport will leave, nor cast one look behind, 
 Soon as she hears his voice, — for he is blind! 
 
 List ! as in tones throu&h deep affection mild 
 He speaks by name to the delighted child! 
 
^4S» MISCELLANEOCrS POEMS. 
 
 Then, bending mute in dreams of painful bliss, 
 
 Breathes o'er her neck a father's tenderest kiss, 
 
 And with light hand npou her forehead fair 
 
 Smooths the stray ringlets of her silky hair! 
 
 A beauteous phantom rises through the night 
 
 For ever brooding o'er his darken'd sight. 
 
 So clearly imaged both in form and limb, 
 
 He scarce remembers that his eyes are dim, 
 
 But thinks he sees in truth the vernal wreath 
 
 His gentle infant wove, that it might breathe 
 
 A sweet restoring fragrance through his breast, 
 
 Ciiosen from the wild-flowers that he loves the ^est. 
 
 In that sweet trance he sees the sparkling glee 
 
 That sanctifies the face of infancy ; 
 
 The dimpled cheek where playful fondness lies, 
 
 And the blue softness of her smiling eyes j 
 
 The spirit's temple unprofaned by tears. 
 
 Where God's unclouded loveliness appears ; 
 
 Those gleams of soul to every feature given, 
 
 When youth walks guiltless by the light of heaven !j 
 
 And oh ! what pleasures through his spirit burn, 
 When to the gate his homeward steps return j 
 When fancy's eye the curling smoke surveys. 
 And his own hearth is gaily heard to blaze! 
 How beams his sightless visage! when the press 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. S49 
 
 Of Love's known hand, with cheerful tenderness, 
 Falls on his arm, and leads with guardian care 
 His helpless footsteps to the accustomed chair; 
 "When that dear voice he joy'd from youth to hear 
 With kind inquiry comes unto his ear, 
 And tremulous tells how lovely still must be 
 Those fading beauties that he ne'er must see ! 
 
 Though ne'er by him his cottage-home be seen. 
 Where to the wild brook slopes the daisied green ; 
 Though the bee, slowly borne on laden wing. 
 To him be known but by its murmuring; 
 And the long leaf that trembles in the breeze 
 Be all that tells him of his native trees ; 
 Vet dear to him each viewless object round 
 Familiar to his soul from touch or sound. 
 The stream, 'mid banks of osier winding near. 
 Lulls iHscalm spirit through the listening ear: 
 Deeply his soul enjoys the loving strife 
 IV^hen the warm summer air isfiU'd with life ; 
 Vnd as his limbs in quiet dreams are laid, 
 Jlest is the oak's contemporary shade. 
 
 • ' 
 
 Happy old Man ! no vain regrets intrude 
 )a the still hour of sightless solitude. 
 M 
 
25(1 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Though deepest shades o'er outward Nature roll, 
 Her cloudless beauty lives vcilhin thy soul. 
 —Oft to yon rising mount thy steps ascend. 
 As to the spot where dwelt a former friend ; 
 From whose green summit thoii couldst once behold 
 Mountains far-off in dim confusion roli'd, 
 Lakes of blue mist, where gleam'd the whiteuing sail, 
 4nd many a woodland interposing vale. 
 
 Thou seest them still : and oh ! how soft a shade 
 Does memory breathe o'er mountain, wood, and 
 
 glade ! 
 Each cragiiy pass, where oft in sportive scorn 
 Had sprung thy limbs in life's exiiiting mornj 
 Each misty cataract, and torrent flood, 
 Where thou a silent angler oft hast stood ; 
 Each shelter'd creek where through the roughest day 
 Floated thy bark without the anchor's stay ; 
 Each nameless field by nameless thought endear'd ; 
 Each little hedge-rov^ that thy childhood rear'd, 
 That seems unalter'd yet in form and size, 
 Though fled the clouds of fifty summer skies, 
 Rise on thy soul, — on high devotion springs 
 Through Nature's beauty borne on Fancy's wings, 
 And while the blissful vision floats around. 
 Of loveliest form, fair hue, and melting sound, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, SSI 
 
 Thou carest not, though blindness may not roam, — 
 For Heaven's own glory smiles aroutid thy home. 
 
252 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 TROUTBECK CHAPEL. 
 
 How sweet and solemn at the close of day, 
 
 After a long and lonely pilgrimage 
 
 Among the mountains, where our spirits held 
 
 "With wildering fancy and her kindred powers 
 
 High converse, to descend as from the clouds 
 
 Into a quiet valley, fili'd with trees 
 
 By Nature planted, crowding round the brink 
 
 Of an oft-hidden rivulet, or hung 
 
 A beauteous shelter o'er the humble roof 
 
 Of many a moss-grown cottage ! 
 
 In that hour 
 Of pensive happiness, the wandering man 
 Looks for some spot of still profounder rest. 
 Where nought may break the solemn images 
 Sent by the setting suu into his soul. 
 Up to yon simple edifice lie walks, 
 That seems beneath its sable grove of pines 
 More silent than the home where living thing 
 Abides, yea, even than desolated tower 
 Wrapt in its ivy-shroud. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. £255 
 
 1 know it well, — 
 The village-chapel : many a year ago, 
 That little dome to God was dedicate ; 
 Arid ever since, hath undisturbed peace 
 Sat on it, moveless as the brooding dove 
 That must ndt leave her nest. A mossy wall, 
 Bathed though in ruins with a flush of flowers, 
 (A lovely emblem of that promised life 
 That springs from death) doth placidly enclose 
 The bed of rest, wherewith their fathers sleep 
 The children of the vale, and the calm stream 
 That murmurs onward with the self-same tone 
 For ever, by the mystic power of sound 
 Binding the present with the past, pervades 
 The holy hush as if with God's own voice, 
 Filling the listening heart with piety. 
 
 Oh ! ne'er shall I forget the hour, when first 
 Thy little chapel stole upon my heart. 
 Secluded Troutbeck ! 'Twas the Sabbath-morn, 
 And up the rocky banks of thy wild stream 
 I wound my path, full oft I ween delay'd 
 By sounding waterfall, that 'mid the calm 
 Awoke such solemn thoughts as suited well 
 The day of peace ; till all at once I came 
 Out of the shady glen, and with fresh joy 
 
254 arrscELLANEoirs poemi. 
 
 Walk'd on encircled by green pastoral hilla. 
 
 Before me sudcleiily thy chapel rose 
 
 As if it were an image : even then 
 
 The noise of tlmnder roll'd along the sky, 
 
 And darkness veild the heights,— a summer-storm 
 
 Of short forewarning and of transient*^© wer. 
 
 Ah me ! bow beautifully silent thou 
 
 Didst smile amid the tempest ! O'er thy roof 
 
 Arch'd a fair rainbov/, that to me appear'd 
 
 A holy shelter to thee in the storm, 
 
 And made thee shine amid the brooding gloom, 
 
 Bright as the morning star. Between the fits 
 
 Of the loud thunder, rose the voice of Pt«alms, 
 
 A most soul-moving sound. There unappall'd, 
 
 A choir of youths and maidens hymned their God, 
 
 With tones that robb'd the thunder of its dread, 
 
 Bidding it rave in vain. 
 
 Out came the sun 
 In glory from his clouded tabernacle; 
 And, waken'd by the splendour, up the lark 
 Rose with a loud and yet a louder song, 
 Chanting to heaven the hymn of gratitude. 
 The service closed ; and o'er the church-yard spread 
 The happy flock who in that peaceful fold 
 Had worbhipp'd Jc£us, carrying to their homes 
 
MISCELLANEOUS P0EAI9, 255 
 
 The comfort of a faith that cannot die. 
 That to the young supplies a guiding light. 
 Steadier than reason's, and far brighter too, 
 And to the aged sanctifies the grass 
 That grows upon the grave. 
 
 O happy lot, 
 Methought, to tend a little flock hke this, 
 Loving them all, and by them ail beloved ! 
 So felt their shepherd on that Sabbath-niorn 
 Returning their kind smiles^ — a pious man, 
 Content in this lone vale to teach the truths 
 Our Saviour taught, nor wishing other praise 
 Than of his great task-master. Yet his youth 
 Notunadorn'd with science, nor the loie 
 Becoming in their prime accomphsh'd men, 
 ToM that among the worldly eminent 
 Might lie his shining way : — but, wiser far, 
 He to the shades of solitude retired. 
 The birth-place of his fathers, and there vow'd 
 His talents and his virtues, rarest both. 
 To God who gave them, rendering by his voice 
 This beauteous chapel still more beautiful, 
 And the blameless dwellers in this quiet dale 
 Happier in life and death. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 PEACE AND INNOCENCE. 
 
 1 HE lingering lustre of a vernal day 
 From the dim landscape slowly steal^away ; 
 One lovely hour ! — and then the stars of Even 
 Will sparkling hail the apparent Queen of Heaven; 
 For the tired Sun, now softly sinking down, 
 To his fair daughter leaves his silent throne. 
 Almost could I believe with life embued, 
 And hush'd in dreams, this gentle solitude. 
 Look where I may, a tranquillizing soul 
 Breathes forth a life-like pleasure o'er the whole. 
 The shadows settling on the mountain's breast 
 Recline, as conscious of the hour of rest j 
 Stedfast as objects in a peaceful dream. 
 The sleepy trees are bending o'er the stream ; 
 The stream, half veil'd in snowy vapour, flows 
 With sound like silence, motion like repose. 
 My heart obeys the power of earth and sky. 
 And 'mid the quiet slumbers quietly ! 
 
 A wreath of smoke, that feels no breath of air, 
 Melts amid yon fair clouds, itself as fair, 
 And seems to link in beauteousness and love 
 
mSCETXANEOUS P0E9f«> Q57 
 
 That earthly cottage to the domes above. 
 There my heart rests,— as if by magic bound : 
 Blessings be on that plat of orchard-ground I 
 Wreathed round the dwelling like a fairy ring, 
 Its green leaves lost in richest blossoming. 
 Within that ring no creature seems alive; 
 The bees have ceased to hum around the hive j 
 On the tall ash the rooks have roosted long, 
 And the fond dove hath coo'd his latest song; 
 Now, shrouded close beneath the holly-bush, 
 Sits on herlow-buiit nest the sleeping thrush. 
 
 All do not sleep : behold a spotless Iamb 
 Looks bleating round, as if it sought its dam. 
 Its restless motion and its piteous moan 
 Tell that it fears all night to rest alone, 
 Though heaven's most gracious dew descends in 
 
 peace 
 Softly as snow-flakes on its radiant fleece. 
 That mournful bleat hath touch'd the watchful ear 
 Of one to whom the little lamb is dear, 
 As innocent and lovely as itself! 
 See where with springs she conies, the smiling elfi 
 Well does the lamb her infant guardian know: 
 Joy brightening dances o'er her breast of snow, 
 
 M3 
 
'*-JJi MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 And light as flying leaf, with sudden glide, 
 
 Fondly she presses to the maiden's side. 
 
 Wiiii kindness quieting its late alarms, 
 
 The sweet child folds it in her nursing arms; ' 
 
 An;I calling it by every gentle name 
 
 That happy innocence through love can frame, 
 
 With tenderest kisses lavish'd on its head, 
 
 Conducts it frisking to its shelter'd bed. 
 
 Kind hearted infant! be thy slumbers bland ! 
 j^rcam that thy sportive lambkin licks thy hand, 
 Or, wearied out by races short and fleet, 
 E^^ks in the sunshine, resting on thy feet j 
 That waking from repose, unbroken, deep, 
 Thou scarce shalt know that thon hast been asleep ! 
 With eye-lids trembling through thy golden hair, 
 i liear thee lisping low thy nightly prayer. 
 O sweetest voice! what beauty breathes therein! 
 Ncor hath its music been impaired by sin. 
 In all its depths my soul shall carry hence 
 The air serene born of thy innocence. 
 To me roost awful is thy hour of rest, 
 ; little children sleep in Jesus' breast I 
 
MISCELLANf:OUS POEMS. 25<S 
 
 LOUGHRIG TARN. 
 
 Thou guardian Naiad of this little Lake, 
 Whose banks in unprofaned Nature sleep, 
 (And that iu waters lone and beautiful 
 Dwell spirits radiant as the homes they love, 
 Have poets still believed) O surely blest 
 Beyond all genii or of wood or wave. 
 Or sylphs that in the shooting sunbeams dwell, 
 Art thou! yea, happier even than suinmer-cloud 
 Beloved by air and sky, and floating slow 
 O'er the still bosom of upholding heaven. 
 
 Beauteous as blest, O Naiad, thou must be! 
 For, since thy birth, have all delightful tlnngs, 
 Of form and hue, of silence and of sound. 
 Circled thy spirit as the crowding stars 
 Shine round the placid Moon. Lov'st thou to sink 
 Into thy cell of sleep ? The water parts 
 With dimpling smiles around thee, and below, 
 The unsunn'd verdure, soft as cygnet's down, 
 Meets thy descending feet without a sound. 
 Lov'st thou to sport upon the watery gleam ? 
 Lucid as air around thy head it lies 
 
260 MISCELtA^'EOUS POEMS. 
 
 Bathing thy sable locks in pearly light. 
 While, all around, the water lilies strive 
 To shower their blossoms o'er the virgin queen. 
 Or doth the shore allure thee? — well it may : 
 How soft these fields of pastoral beauty melt 
 In the clear water! neither sand nor stone 
 Bars herb or wild-flower from the dewy sound, 
 Like Spring's own voice aow rippling round the 
 
 Tarn. 
 There oft thou liest 'mid the echoing bleat 
 Of lambs, that race amid the sunny gleams ; 
 Or bee's wide murmur as it fills the broom 
 That yellows round thy bed. O gentle glades, 
 Amid the tremulous verdure of the woods, 
 In stedfast smiles of more essential light 
 Lying, like azure streaks of placid sky 
 Amid the^moving clouds, the Naiad loves 
 Your glimmering alleys,and your nistling bowers j 
 For there, in peace reclined, her half-closed eye 
 Through the long vista sees her darling Lake, 
 Even like herself, diffused in fair repose. 
 
 Not undelightful -to the quiet breast 
 Such solitary dreams as now have fill'd 
 My busy fancy ; dreams that rise in peace, 
 And thither lead, partaking in their flight 
 
 J 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 204 
 
 Of human interests and eartlily joys. 
 Imagination fondly leans on trnth, 
 And sober scenes of dim reality 
 To her seem lovely as the western sky, 
 To the rapt Persian worshipping the sun. 
 Methinks this little lake, to whom my heart 
 Assigned a guardian spirit, renders back 
 To me, in tenderest gleams of gratitude, 
 Profounder beauty to reward my hymn. 
 
 Long hast thou been a darling haunt of mine^, 
 And still warm blessings gusli'd into my heart. 
 Meeting or parting with thy smiles of peace. 
 But now, thy mild and gentle character. 
 More deeply felt than ever, seems to blend 
 Its essence pure with mine, hke some sweet tune 
 Oft heard before with pleasure, but at last, 
 In one high moment of inspired bliss, 
 Borne through the spirit like an angel's song. 
 
 This is the solitude that reason loves ! 
 Even he who yearns for human sympathies, 
 And hears a music in the breath of man, 
 Dearer than voice of mountain or of flood, 
 Might hve a hermit here, and mark the sun 
 Rising or setting 'mid the beauteous calm, 
 
262 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Devoutly blending in his happy soul 
 Thoughts both of earth and heaven! — Yon mountain- 
 side, 
 Rejoicing in its clustering cottages, 
 Appears to me a paradise preserved 
 From guilt by Nature's hand, and every wreath 
 Of smoke, that from these hamletsmounts to heaven 
 In its straight silence holy as a spire 
 R ear'd o'er the house of God. 
 
 Thy sanctity 
 Time yet hath reverenced ; and I deeply feel 
 That innocence her shrine shall here preserve 
 For ever. — The wild vale that lies beyond, 
 Circled by mountains trod but by the feet 
 Of venturous shepherd, from all visitants. 
 Save the free tempests and the fowls of heaven. 
 Guards thee; — and wooded knolls fantastical 
 Seclude thy image from the gentler dale , 
 That by the Brathay's often-varied voice 
 Cbeer'd as it winds along, in beauty fades 
 'Mid the green banks of joyful Windermere! 
 
 O gentlest Lake ! from all unhallow'd things 
 By grandeur guarded in thy loveliness. 
 Ne'er may thy poet with unwelcome feet 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 265 
 
 Press thy soft moss embathed in flowery dies, 
 And siiadow'd in thy stillness like the heavens. 
 May innocence for ever lead me here, 
 To form amid the silence high resolves 
 For future life ; resolves, that, born in peace, 
 Shall live 'mid tumult, and though haply mild 
 As infants in their play, when brought to bear 
 On the world's business, shall assert their power 
 And majesty — and lead me boldly on 
 Like giants conquering in a noble cause. 
 
 This is a holy faith, and full of cheer 
 To all who worship Nature, that the hour?, 
 Past ti'anquilly with her, fade not away 
 For ever like the clouds, but in the soul 
 Possess a secret silent dwelling-place, 
 Where with a smiling visage memory sits, 
 And startles oft the virtuous, with a shew 
 Of unsuspected treasures. Yea, sweet Lake ! 
 Oft hast thou borne into my grateful heart 
 Thy lovely presence, with a thousand dreams 
 Dancing and brightening o'er thy sunny wave, 
 Tliougii many a dreary mile of mist and snow 
 Between us interposed. And even now. 
 When yon bright star hath risen to warn me honse^ 
 1 bid thee farewell in the certain hope, 
 
264 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 That thoH, this night, wilt o'er my sleeping eyes 
 Shed cheering visions, and with freshest joy 
 Make me salute the dawn. Nor may the hymn 
 Now sung by me unto thy listening woods, 
 Be wholly vain, — but haply it may yield 
 A gentle pleasure to some gentle heart, 
 Who blessing, at its close, the unknown bard, 
 May, for his sake, upon thy quiet banks 
 Frame visions of his own, and other songs 
 More beautiful, to Nature and to Thee J 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 265 
 
 MARY. 
 
 JThREE days before my Mary's death, 
 We walk'd by Grassmere shore ; 
 
 ** Sweet lake!" she said with faltering breath, 
 " I ne'er shall see thee more 1" 
 
 Then turning round her languid head. 
 
 She look'd me in the face ; 
 And whisper'd " When thy friend is dead, 
 
 " Remember this lone place." 
 
 Vainly I struggled at a smile, 
 
 That did my fears betray ; 
 It seenf d that on our darling isle 
 
 Foreboding darkness lay. 
 
 My Mary's words were words of truth ; 
 
 None now behold the Maid ; 
 Amid the tears of age and youth, 
 
 She in her grave was laid. 
 
 Long days, long nights, I ween, were past 
 Ere ceased h^r funeral knell -, 
 
!3&6 MISCELLANEOCS POEBTl. 
 
 But to the spot I went at last 
 Where, she had breath'd " farewell I" 
 
 Methougbt, I saw tho phantom etand 
 
 Beside the peaceful Wave; 
 I flit the pressure of her band-^^ 
 
 — Then looked towards her grave. 
 
 Fair, fair beneath the evening sky 
 
 The quiet churchyard lay : 
 The tall pine grove raost solemnly 
 
 Hung mute above h^r clay. 
 
 Dearly she loved their arching spread, 
 
 Their music wjld and sweet, 
 And, as she wished on her death-bed, 
 
 Was buried at their feet. 
 
 Around her grave a beauteous fence 
 Of wild flowers shed their breath, 
 
 Smiling hke infant innocence 
 Within the gloom of death. 
 
 Such flowers from bank of mountain-brook 
 
 At eve we wont (o bring, 
 When every little mossy nook 
 
 Betray'd returning Spring. 
 
Oft had I fixed the simple wreath 
 
 Upon her virj^in breast ; 
 But now such flowers as formed it, breath* 
 
 Around her bed of rest. 
 
 Yet all within my silent soul, 
 
 As the hush'd air was calm ; 
 The natural tears that slowly stolCy 
 
 Assuaged my grief like balm. 
 
 The air that seem'd so thick and 
 For months unto my eye j 
 
 Ah me ! how bright and beautiful 
 It floated on the sky ! 
 
 A trance of high and solemn bliss 
 From purest ether came ; 
 
 'Mid such a heavenly scene as this, 
 Death is an empty name ! 
 
 The memory of the past return'd 
 Like music to my heart, — 
 
 It seem'd that causelessly I raourn'd., 
 When we were told to part. 
 
268 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 " God's mercy, to myself I said, 
 " To both our souls is given — 
 
 " To me, sojourning on earth's shade, 
 ** To her— a Saint in Heaven !" 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 269 
 
 LINES 
 
 WRITTEN AT A LITTLE WELL BY THE ROADSIDE, 
 
 LANGDALE. 
 
 Thou lonely spring of waters undefiled ! 
 
 Silently slumbering in thy mossy cell, 
 
 Yea, moveless, as the hillock's verdant side 
 
 From whom thou hast thy birth, I bless thy gleam 
 
 Of clearest coldness, with as deep-felt love 
 
 As pilgrim kneeling at his far-sought shrine; 
 
 And as I bow to bathe my freshen'd heart 
 
 In thy restoring radiance, from my lips 
 
 A breathing prayer sheds o'er thy glassy sleep 
 
 A gentle tremor ! 
 
 Nor must I forget 
 A benison for the departed soul 
 Of him, who, many a year ago, first shaped 
 This httle Font, — en)prisoning the spring 
 Not wishing to be free, with smooth slate<stone; 
 Now in the beauteous colouring of age 
 
£70 MISCCILANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Scarcely distinguished from the natural rock. 
 In blessed hour the solitary man 
 Laid the first stone,— and in his native vale 
 It serves him for a peaceful monument, 
 'Mid the hill-silence. 
 
 Renovated life 
 Now flows through all my veins: — old dreams revivej; 
 And while an airy pleasure in my brain 
 Dances unbidden, 1 have time to gaze, 
 Even with a happy lover's kindest looks. 
 On Tiiee, delicious Fountain ! 
 
 Thou dost shed 
 (Though sultry stillness fill the summer air 
 And parch the yellow hills,) all round thy cave, 
 A smile of beauty lovely as the Spring 
 Breathes with his April showers. The narrow laue 
 On either hand ridged with low shelving rocks, 
 That from the road-side gently lead the eye 
 Up to thy bed, — Ah me ! how rich a green, 
 Still brightening, wantons o'er its nioisten'd grass? 
 With what a sweet sensation doth my gaze. 
 Now that my thirsty soul is gratified, 
 Live on the Httle cell! The water there, 
 Variously dappled by the wreathed iand 
 
 le 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POERtS. 271 
 
 That sleeps below in many an antic shape, 
 Like the mild phimage of the pheasant-hen 
 Soothes the beholder's eye^ The ceaseless drip 
 From the moss-fretted roof, by Nature's hand 
 Vaulted most beautiful, even like a pulse 
 Tells of the hving principle within, — 
 A pulse but seldom heard amid the wild. 
 
 Yea, seldom heard: there is but one lone cot 
 Beyond this well : it is inhabited 
 By an old shepherd during summer months. 
 And haply he may drink of the pure spring, 
 To Langdale Cliapel on the Sabbath- morn 
 Going to pray, — or as he home returns 
 At silent eve : or traveller such as I, 
 Following his fancies (/yr these lonely hills, 
 Thankfully here may slake iiis burning thirst 
 Once in a season. Other visitants 
 It hath not ; save perchance the moimtain-crow, 
 When ice hath lock'd the rills , or wandering colt 
 Leaving its pasture for the shady lane, 
 
 Methinks, in such a solitary cave, 
 The fairy forms belated peasant sees, 
 ' Oft nightly dancing in a glittering ring, 
 ' On the smooth mountain sward, might here retire 
 
272 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 To lead their noon-tide revels, or to bathe 
 Their tiny limbs in this transparent well. 
 A fitter spot there is not : tlowers are here 
 Of loveliest colours and of sweetest smell. 
 Native to these our hills, and ever seen 
 A fairest family by the happy side 
 Of their own parent spring ; — and others too, 
 Of foreign birth, the cultured garden's joy. 
 Planted by that old shepherd in bis mirth. 
 Here smile like strangers in a novel scene. 
 Lo ! a tall robe-tree with its chistering bloom. 
 Brightening the mossy wall on which it leans 
 Its arching beauty, to my gladsome heart 
 Seems, with its smiles of lonely loveliness, 
 Like some fair virgin at the humble door 
 Of her dear mountain-cot, standing to greet 
 The way-bewildered traveller. 
 
 But my soul 
 Long pleased to linger by this silent cave, 
 Nursing its wild and playful fantasies, 
 Pants for a loftier pleasure, — and forsakes, 
 Though surely with no cold ingratitude. 
 The flowers and. verdure round the sparkling well. 
 A voice calls on me from the mountain-depths, 
 And it must be obcy'd i Yon ledge of rocks, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. S7S 
 
 Like a wild staircase over Hardknot's brow, 
 Is ready for i»y footsteps, and even now, 
 Wast-water blackens far beneath my feet. 
 She the storm-loving Lake. 
 
 Sweet Fount !— Farewell ! 
 
 iN 
 
S74 WISCKLLAKEOUS POESfS. 
 
 UNES 
 
 WRITTEN ON SEEING A PICTUUE BY BERGHEM, 
 OF AN ASS IN A STORM-SHOWER. 
 
 Poor wretch ! that blasted leafless tree, 
 More frail and death-like even than thee, 
 Can yield no shelter to thy shivering form ; 
 The sleet, the rain, the wind of Heaven, 
 Fall in thy face are coldly driven, 
 As if thou wert alone the object of the storm, 
 
 Yet, chill'd with cold, and drench'd with rain, 
 Mild creature, thou dost not complain 
 By sound or look of these ungracious skies ; 
 Calmly as if in friendly shed. 
 There stand'st thou, with unmoving head, 
 And a grave, patient meekness in thy half-closed 
 eyes. 
 
 Long could ray thonghlful spirit gaze 
 On thee ; nor am I loth to praise 
 Him who in moral mood this image drew j 
 And yet; methiuks, that I could frame 
 
MISCBLLAMEOUS POEMS. 275 
 
 An ima^e different, yet the same, 
 
 More pleasing to the heart, and yet to Nature true. 
 
 Behold a lane retired and green, 
 
 Winding amid a forest-scene 
 
 With blooming furze in many a radiant heap j 
 
 There is a browsing ass espied, 
 
 One colt is frisking by her side, 
 
 And one among her feet is safely stretch'd in sleep. 
 
 And lo ! a little maiden stands, 
 With thistles in her tender hands, 
 Tempting with kindly words the colt to eat; 
 Or gently down before him lays, 
 With words of solace and of praise, 
 Pluck'd from th' untrodden turf the herbage soft and 
 sweet. 
 
 The summer sun is sinking down. 
 
 And the peasants from the market town 
 
 With cheerful hearts are to their homes returning ; 
 
 Groupes of gay children too are there, 
 
 Stirring with mirth the silent air, 
 
 O'er all their eager eyes the light of laughter burniDg. 
 
 The ass hath got his burthen still ! 
 The merry elves the pauniers fill ; 
 
'27 (J MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Delighted there from side to side they swing. 
 The creature heeds nor shout nor call, 
 But jogs on careless of them all, , 
 
 Whether in harmless sport they gaily strike or sing. 
 
 A gipsey-groupe ! the secret wood 
 
 Stirs through its leafy solitude, 
 
 As wheels the dance to many a jocund tune; 
 
 Th' unpannier'd ass slowly retires 
 
 From the brown teuts, and sparkling fires, 
 
 And silently feeds on beneath the silent moon. 
 
 The Moon sits o'er the huge oak tree, 
 
 More pensive 'mid this scene of glee 
 
 That mocks the hour of beauty and of rest; 
 
 The soul of all her softest rays 
 
 On yonder placid creature plays, v 
 
 As if she wish'd to cheer the hardships of the opprest 
 
 But now the silver moonbeams fade, 
 
 And, peeping through a flowery glade, 
 
 Hush'd as a wild-bird's nest, a cottage lies : 
 
 An ass stands meek and patient there. 
 
 And by her side a spectre fair, 
 
 To driuk the balmy cup once more before she dies. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 27f 
 
 With tendfrest care the pityinj; dame 
 
 Supports the dying maiden's frame, 
 
 And strives with laughing looks her heart to cheer j 
 
 "While playful children crowd around 
 
 To catch her eye by snnle or sound, 
 
 Unconscious of the doom that waits their lady dear f 
 
 I feel this mournful dream impart 
 A holier image to my heart. 
 
 For oft doth grief to thoughts sublime give birth :— 
 Blest creature ! tlirough the solemn night, 
 I see thee bath'd in heavenly light, 
 Shed from that wondrous child — The Saviour of the 
 Earth. 
 
 When, flying Herod's murd'rous rage^ 
 
 Thou on that wretched pilgrimage 
 
 Didst gently near the virgin-mother lie ; 
 
 On thee the humble Jesus sate, 
 
 When thousands rush'd to Salem's gate 
 
 To see 'mid holy hymns the sinless man pass by. 
 
 Happy thou wert, — nor low thy praise, 
 
 In peaceful patriarchal days. 
 
 When countless tents slow passed from land to land 
 
S7S UISCELLANEOUS POEMS* 
 
 Like clouds o'er heaven : — the gentle race 
 
 Such quiet scene did meetly grace, — 
 
 Circling the pastoral camp in niaiiy a stately band* 
 
 Poor wretch ! — my musing dream is o'er ; 
 
 Thy shivering form I view once more, 
 
 And all the pains thy race is doom'd to prove. 
 
 But they whose thoughtful spirits see 
 
 The truth of life, will pause with me, 
 
 4nd blefi» thee in a voice of gentleness and love ( 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 27^ 
 
 ON READING 
 
 MR. CLARKSON'S HISTORY OF THE ABOllTION 
 OF 
 
 THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 'JVllD the august and never-dying light 
 Of constellated spirits, who have gain'd 
 A throne in heaven, by power of heavenly acts, 
 And leave their names immortal and unchanged 
 On earth, even as the names of Sun and Moon, 
 Seest thou, my soul ! 'mid all that radiant host 
 One worthier of thy love and reverence, 
 Than He, the fearless spirit, who went forth, 
 Mail'd in the armour of invincible faith, 
 And bearing in his grasp the spear of truth, 
 Fit to destroy and save, — went forth to wag6^, 
 Against the fierce array of bloody men, 
 Avarice and ignorance, cruelty and hate, 
 A holy warfare ! Deep within his soul, 
 The groans of anguish, and the clank of chains. 
 Dwelt ceaseless as a cataract, and fill'd 
 The secret haunts of meditative prayer. 
 Encircled by the silence of the hearth, 
 The evening-silence of a happy home j 
 
280 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Upon his midnight bed, when working soul 
 
 Turns inward, and the steady flow of thought 
 
 Is all we fee) of life ; in crowded rooms, 
 
 Where mere sensation oft takes place of mind, 
 
 And all time seems the present ; in the sun, 
 
 The joyful splendour of a summer-day ; 
 
 Or 'neath the moon, the calm and gentle night j 
 
 Where'er he moved, one vision ever fill'd 
 
 His restless spirit, 'Twas a vision bright 
 
 With colours born in Heaven, yet oh ! bedimra'd 
 
 With breatli of sorrow, sighs, and tears, and blood! 
 
 Before him lay a quarter of the world, 
 
 A Mighty Land, wash'd by unnnmber'd floods, 
 
 Born in her bosom, — floods that to the sea 
 
 Roll ocean-like, or in the central wilds 
 
 Fade like the dim day melting into night ; 
 
 A land all teeming with the gorgeous shew 
 
 Of Nature in profuse magnificence ! 
 
 Vallies and groves, where untamed herds have ranged 
 
 Without a master since the birth of time ! 
 
 Fountains and caves fiU'd with the hidden light 
 
 Of diamond and of ruby, only view'd 
 
 With admiration by the unenvying sun ! 
 
 Millions of beings like himself he sees 
 
 In stature and in soul,— the sons of God, 
 
 Destined to dt him homage, and to lift 
 
MISCELLANeOUS POEMS. 281 
 
 Their fearless brows unto the burning sky, 
 Stamp'd with his holy image ! Noble shapes, 
 Kings of the desert, men whose stately tread 
 Brings from the dust the sound of liberty ! 
 The vision fades not here; he sees the gloora 
 That lies upon these kingdoms of the sun, 
 And makes them darker than the dreary realms. 
 Scarce-moving at the pole. — A sluggish flow 
 Attends those floods so great and beautiful, 
 Rolling in majesty that none adores ! 
 And lo ! the faces of those stately men. 
 Silent as death, or changed to ghastly shapes 
 By madness and despair ! his ears are torn 
 By shrieks and ravings, loud, and long, and wild, 
 Or the deep-mutter'd curse of sullen hearts. 
 Scorning in bitter woe their gnawing chains ! 
 He sees, and shuddering feels the vision true, 
 A pale-faced band, who in his mother-isle 
 First look'd upon the day, beneath its ligh^ 
 Dare to be tyrants and with coward deeds 
 Sullying the glory of the Q.ieen of vV^dves! 
 He sees that famous Isle, whose very winds 
 Dissolve like iacles the tyrant's chains. 
 On Afric bind them tirni as adamant. 
 Yet hoast, with false and hollow f^rdtitude, 
 Of all the troubled nations of the earth 
 N 2 
 
382 MISCELLANEOUS POKMS. 
 
 That she alone is free ! The awful sight 
 Appals not him ; he draws his lonely breath 
 Without a tremor ; for a voice is heard 
 Breathed by no human lips, — heard by his soul,- 
 That he by Heaven is chosen to restore 
 Mercy on earth, a mighty conqueror 
 Over the sins and miseries of man. 
 The work is done ! the Niger's sullen waves 
 Have heard the tidings , — and the orient Sun 
 Beholds them rolling on to meet his light 
 In joyful beauty, — Torabflt's spiry towers 
 Are bright without the brightness of the day, 
 And Houssa wakening from his age-long trance 
 Of woe, amid the desert, smiles to hear 
 The last faint echo of the bUssfuI sound. — 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 283 
 
 THE FALLEN OAK, 
 A VISION. 
 
 SCENE; A WOOD, NEAR KESWICK, BELONGING TO 
 GREENWICH HOSPITAL. 
 
 I. 
 
 Beneath the shadow of an ancient oak, 
 Dreaming I lay, far 'mid a solemn wood, 
 When a noise like thunder stirr'd the solitude, 
 And from that trance I suddenly awoke ! 
 A noble tree came crashing to the ground. 
 Through the dark forest opening out a glade; 
 While all its hundred branches stretching round, 
 Crush'd the tall hazles in its ample shade. 
 Methought, the vanquish'd monarch as he died 
 Utter'd a groan : while loud and taunting cheers 
 The woodmen raised o'er him whose stubborn pride 
 Had braved the seasons for an hundred years. 
 It seem'd a savage shout, a senseless scorn, 
 Nor long prevail'd amid the awful gloom ; 
 Sad look'd the forest of her glory shorn. 
 Reverend with age, yet bright in vigour's bloom, 
 Slain io his hour of strength, a giant in his tomb. 
 
$84 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 II. 
 
 I closed mine eyes, nor eould I brook to gaze 
 On the wild havoc in one moment done ; . 
 
 Hateful to me shone forth the blessed sun, 
 As through the new form'd void he pour'd his rays. 
 Then rose a dream before my sleeping soul ! 
 A wood-nymph tearing her dishevell'd hair, 
 And wailing loud, from a long vista stole, 
 And eyed the ruin with a fixed despair. 
 The velvet moss, that bath'd its roots in green, 
 For many a happy day had been her seat j 
 Than valley wide more dear this secret scene ; 
 — She asked no music but the rustling sweet 
 Of the rejoicing leaves ; now, all is gone. 
 That touch'd the Dryad's heart with pure delight. 
 Soon shall the axe destroy her fallen throne. 
 Its leaves of gold, its bark so glossy bright — 
 — But DOW she hastes away, — death-siokening at 
 the sight ! 
 
 III. 
 
 A nobler shape supplied the Dryad's place j 
 Soon as I saw the spirit in her eye, 
 I knew the mountain-goddess. Liberty, 
 And in adoring reverence veil'd my face. 
 Smiling she stood beside the prostrate oak^ 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. tl$ 
 
 While a stern pleasure swell'd her lofty breast, 
 And thus, methought in thrilling accents spoke— 
 " Not long, my darling Tree! must be tliy rest ! 
 " Glorious thou wert, when towering through the 
 
 skies 
 ** In winter-storms, or summer's balmy breath j 
 "And thou, my Tree! shalt gloriously arise, 
 ** In life majestic, terrible in death ! 
 *^ For thou shalt float above the roaring wave, 
 ** Where flags, denouncing battle, stream afar ; — 
 **Thou wert, from birth, devoted to the brave, 
 " And thou shalt sail on like a blazing star, 
 << Bearing victorious Nelson through the storms of 
 
 war ••' 
 
286 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 T 
 
 NATURE OUTRAGED. 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 
 To ROBERT SYM, Esq. Ed-inburgh. 
 
 Once, on the very gentlest stillest day 
 That ever Spring did in her gladness breathe 
 O'er this delightful earth, I left ray home 
 With a beloved friend, who ne'er before 
 Had been among these mountains, — but whose 
 
 heart, 
 Led by the famous poets, through the air 
 Serene of Nature oft had voyaged. 
 On fancy's wing, and in her magic bowers 
 Reposed, by wildest music sung to sleep :— 
 So that, enamour'd of the image forms 
 Of beauty in his soul, with holiest zeal 
 He longed to hail the fair original, 
 And do her spiritual homage. 
 
 That his love 
 Might, consonant to Nature's dictate wise. 
 From quiet impulse grow, and to the power 
 Of meditation and connectiog thought, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POfiMS* 28? 
 
 Rather than startling glories of the eye, 
 Owe its enthronement in his inmost heart, 
 I led him to behold a little lake, 
 Which I so often in my lonely walks 
 Had visited, but never yet had seen 
 One human being on its banks, that I 
 Thought it mine own almost, so thither took 
 My friend, assured he could not chuse but love 
 A scene so loved by me ! 
 
 Before we reached 
 The dell wherein this little lake doth sleep, 
 Into involuntary praise of all 
 Its pensive loveliness, my happy heart 
 Would frequent burst, and from those lyric songs, 
 That, sweetly warbling round the pastoral banks 
 Of Grassmere, on its silver waves have shed 
 The undying sunshine of a poet's soul, 
 I breathed such touching strains as suited well 
 iThe mild spring-day,, and that secluded scene, 
 ITowards which, in full assurance of delight, 
 We two then walked in peace. 
 
 On the green slop* 
 Of a romantic glade, we sat us down, 
 lAmid the fragrance of the yellow broom, 
 
S88 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 Wliile o'er onr heads the weeping birch-tree fitrcam'd 
 Its branches arching like a fountain-shower, 
 Then look'd towards the lake, — with hearts prepared 
 For the warm recrption of aUlovely forms 
 Enrobed in loveliest radiance, such as oft 
 Had steep'd my spirit in a holy calm, 
 And made it by the touch of purest joy 
 Still as an infant's dream. 
 
 But where had fled 
 The paradise beloved in forrher days ! 
 I look'd upon the countenance of my friend, 
 "Who, lost in strange and sorrowful surprise, 
 Could scarce forbear to smile. Is this, he cried^ 
 The lone retreat, where from the secret top 
 Of Helicon, the wild^eyed muse descends 
 To bless thy slumbers ? this the virgin scene 
 Where beauty smiles in undisturbed peace? 
 
 I look'd again : but ne'er did lover gaze, 
 At last returning from some foreign ciiine, 
 M'^ith more affectionate sorrow on the face 
 That he left fair in youth, than I did gaze 
 On the altcr'd features of my darling vale. 
 That, 'mid the barbarous outrages of art, 
 Retained; I weeD, a heavenly character 
 
 ^1 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 289 
 
 That nothing could destroy. Yet much was lost 
 Ofits orijuinal brightness : Much was there, 
 Marring the spirit I remembered once 
 Perfectly beantifiil. The meadow field, 
 That with its rich and placid verdure lay 
 Even like a sister-lake, with nouiilit to break 
 The smoothness of its bosom, save the swing 
 Of the hoar Canna, or, more snowy white, 
 The young lamb frisking in the joy of life, — 
 Oh ! grief! a garden, all unlike, I ween. 
 To that where bloom'd the fair Hesperides, 
 Usurped the seat of Nature, while a wall 
 Of most bedazzling splendour o'er whose height, 
 The little bird?, content to flit along 
 From bush to bush, could never dare to fly, 
 Preserved from those who knew no ill intent, 
 Fruit-trees exotic, and flowers passing rare, 
 Less lovely far than many a one that bloom'd 
 Unnoticed in the woods. 
 
 And lo ! a house, 
 An elegant villa ! in the Grecian style ! 
 Doubtless contrived by some great architect 
 Who had an Attic soul ; and in the shade 
 Of Academe or the Lyceum walk'd, 
 Forming conceptions fair and beautiful 
 
S90 SIISCELLANEOUS POEMf. 
 
 Blessed for ever be the sculptor's artl 
 
 It hath created guardian deitits 
 
 To shield the holy buildiDg,— heathen gods 
 
 And goddesses, at vrhich the peasant stares 
 
 With most perplexing wonder; and light FauQS| 
 
 That the good owner's unpoetic soul 
 
 Could not, among the uD)brage of the groves, 
 
 Imagine, here, for ever in his sight, 
 
 In one unwearied posture frisk in stone. 
 
 My friend, quoth I, forgive these words of mine, 
 That haply seem more sportive than becomes 
 A soul that feels for Nature's sanctity 
 Thus blindly outraged ; but when evil work 
 Admits no remedy, we then are glad 
 Even from ourselves to hide, in mirth constrain'd^ 
 An unavailing sorrow. Oh ! my friend, 
 Hadst thou beheld, as I, the glorious rock 
 By that audacious mansion hid for ever, 
 — Glorious I well might call it, with bright bands 
 Of flowers, and weeds as beautiful as flowers, 
 Refulgent, — crown'd, as with a diadem. 
 With oaks that loved their birth-place, and alive 
 With the wild tones of echo, bird, and bee, — 
 Thou couldst have wept to think that paltry Art 
 Could so prevail o'er Nature, and weak man 
 
' IflSCELLANEOUS POEMS. S9t 
 
 Thus stand between thee and the works of God, 
 Well might the Naiad of that stream complain! 
 The glare of day hath driven her from her haunts, 
 Shady no more : The woodman's axe hath clear'd 
 The useless hazels where the linnet hung 
 Her secret nest ; and yon hoar waterfall. 
 Whose misty spray rose through the freslien'd leaves 
 To heaven, hke Nature's incense, and whose sounil 
 Came deaden'd through the multitude of boughSj 
 Like a wild anthem by some spirit sung, 
 Now looks as cheerless as the late-left snow 
 Upon the mountain's breast, and sends a voice, 
 From the bare rocks, of dreariness and woe ! 
 See ! farther down the streamlet, art hath framed 
 A delicate cascade ! The channel stones 
 Hollow'd by rushing waters, and more green 
 Even than the thought of greenness in the soul^ 
 Are gone ; and pebbles, carefully arranged 
 By size and colour, at the bottom lie 
 Imprison'd ; while a smooth and shaven lawn, 
 With graceful gravel walks most serpentine, 
 Surrounds the noisy wonder, and sends up 
 A smile of scorn unto the rocky fells, 
 Where, 'mid the rough fern, bleat the shelter'd sheep. 
 
 Oft hath the poet's eye on these wild fells 
 Beheld entrancing visions ; — but the cliffs, 
 
29« MISCELLANEOUS POEM8. 
 
 In unsealed majesty, must frown no more ; 
 
 No more the coves profound draw down the soul 
 
 Into their stern dominion : even the clouds, 
 
 Floating or settling on the mountain's breast, 
 
 Mast be adored no more : — far other forms 
 
 Delight his gaze, to whom, alas, belongs 
 
 This luckless vale ! On every eminence, 
 
 Smiles some gay in)age of the builder's soul. 
 
 Watch-tower or sammer house, where oft, at eve, 
 
 He meditates to go, with book in hand, 
 
 And read in solitude ; or weather-cock, 
 
 To tell which way the wind doth blow j or fort, 
 
 Commanding every station in the vale 
 
 Where enemy might encamp, and from whose height 
 
 A gaudy flag might flutter, when he hears 
 
 With a true British pride of Frenchmen slain. 
 
 Ten thousand in one battle, lying grim 
 
 By the brave English, their dead conquerors ! 
 
 Such was the spirit of the words I used 
 On witnessing such sacrilege. We turned 
 Homewards in silence, even as from the grave 
 Of one in early y«utb untimely slain. 
 And all that to my pensive friend I said 
 Upon our walk, were some few words of grief^ 
 That thoughtlessness and folly, in oae day, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS >OEMS. gfS 
 
 Could render vain the mystic processes 
 
 Of Nature, working for a thousand years 
 
 The work of love and beauty ; so that Heaven 
 
 Might shed its gracious dews upon the earth, 
 
 Its sunshine a«id its rain, till hving flowers 
 
 Rose up in myriads to attest its power, 
 
 But, in the midst of this glad jubilee, 
 
 A blinded mortal come, and with a nod, 
 
 Thus rendering ignorance worse than wickedness, 
 
 Bid his base servants " tear from Nature's book 
 
 ** A blissful leaf with worst impiety." 
 
 If thou, whose heart has listeu'd to my song, 
 From Nature hold'st some fair inheritance 
 Like that whose mournful ruins I deplore, 
 Remember that thy birth-right doth impose 
 Higli duties on thee, that must be perform'd, 
 Else thou canst not be happy. Thou must watch 
 With holy zeal o'er Natuie while she sleeps, 
 That nought may break her rest ; her waking smiles 
 Thou must preserve and worship ; and the gloom 
 That sometimes lies like night upon her face, 
 Creating awful thoughts, that gloom must hush 
 The beatioi,s of thy heart, as if it lay 
 Like the dread shadow of eternity. 
 Beauteous thy home upon this beauteous earth. 
 
f94 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 And God hath given it to tUee : therefore, learn 
 The laws by which the Eternal doth sublime 
 And sanctify his works, that thou mayest see « 
 The hidden glory veiled from vulgar eyes, 
 And by the homage of enlighten'd love, 
 Repay the power that blest thee. Thou shouldst 
 
 stand 
 Oft-times amid thy dwelling-place, with awe 
 Stronger than love, even like a pious man 
 Who in some great cathedral, while the chant 
 Of hymns is in his soul, no more beholds 
 The pillars rise august and beautiful, 
 Nor the dim grandeur of the roof that hangs 
 Far, far above his head, but only sees 
 The opening heaven-gates, and the white-robed 
 
 bands 
 Of spirits prostrate in adoring praise. 
 So Shalt thou to thy death hour find a fiiend, 
 A gracious friend in Nature, and thy name, 
 As the rapt traveller through thy fair domains 
 Oft-lingering journeys, shall with gentle voice 
 Be breathed amid the solitude, and link'd 
 With those enlighten'd spirits that promote 
 The happiness of others by their own, 
 The consummation of all earthly joy. 
 
SflSeELLANEOUS POKMI. 995 
 
 LINES 
 
 "WRITTEN BY MOONLIGHT AT SEA. 
 
 Ah me! in dreams of struggling dread. 
 
 Let foolish tears no more be shed. 
 
 Tears wept on bended knee, 
 
 Though years of absence slowly roll 
 
 Between us and some darling soul 
 
 Wlio lives upon the sea ! 
 
 Weep, weep not for the mariner, 
 
 Though distant far he roam, 
 
 And have no lovely resting-place 
 
 That he can call his home. 
 
 Friends hath he in the wilderness, 
 
 And with those friends he lives in bliss 
 
 Without one pining sigh ! 
 
 The waves that round his vessel crowd, 
 
 The guiding stc^ r, the breezy cloud, 
 
 The music of the sky. 
 
 And, dearer even than Heaven's sweet light, 
 
 He gazes on that wonder bright, 
 
 When sporting with the gales. 
 
 Or lying in a beauteous sleep 
 
 Above her ihadow in the deep, 
 
296 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 —The ship in which he sails. 
 
 Then weep not for the mariner ! 
 
 He needeth not thy tears ; 
 
 From his soul the Ocean's midnight voice 
 
 Dispels all mortal fears. 
 
 Quietly slumber shepherd-men , 
 
 In the silence of some inland glen, 
 
 Lull'd by the gentlest sounds of air and earth j 
 
 Yet as quietly rests the mariner, 
 
 Nor wants for dreams as melting fair 
 
 Amid the Ocean's mirth. 
 
MISOELtANEOUS POEMS. 297 
 
 THE 
 
 NAMELESS STREAM. 
 
 OeNTLE as dew, a summer shower 
 In beauty bathed tree, herb, and flower, 
 And told the stream to murmur on 
 With quicker dance and HveUer tone. 
 The mist lay steady on the fell, 
 While lustre steeped each smiling dell, 
 Such wild and fairy contrast made 
 The magic power of light and shade. 
 Through trees a little bridge was seen, 
 Glittering with yellow, red, and green, 
 As o'er the moss with playful glide 
 The sunbeam danced from side to side, 
 And made the ancient arch to glow 
 Various as Heaven's reflected bow. 
 Within the dripping grove was heard 
 Rustle or bong of joyful bird ; 
 The stir of rapture fiU'd the air 
 From unseeti myriads mingling there j 
 Life lay entranced in sinless mirth, 
 And Nature's hymn swam o'er the eartb! 
 O 
 
2DS MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 In tliis sweet hour of peace and lovp, 
 
 I cliaiiced from restless joy to move, 
 
 \7hen by my side a being stood 
 
 Fairer than Naiad of tiie flood, 
 
 Or her who ruled the forest scene 
 
 In days of yore, the huntress Queen. 
 
 Wildness, subdued by quiet grace. 
 
 Played o'er the vision's radiant face, 
 
 Kadiant with spirit fit to steer 
 
 Her flight around the starry sphere, 
 
 Yet, willing to sink down in rest 
 
 Upon a guardian mortal breast. 
 
 Her eye3 were rather soft than bright, 
 
 And, when a smile half-closed their light, 
 
 They seem'd amid the gleam divine 
 
 Like stars scarce seen through fair moonshine ! 
 
 While ever, as, with sportive air. 
 
 She lightly waved her clustering hair, 
 
 A thousand gleams ihe motion made. 
 
 Danced o'er the auburn's darker shade. 
 
 O Mary ! I bad known thee Ions', 
 
 Amid the gay, the thoughtless throng. 
 Where mien leaves modesty behind, 
 And manner takes the place of mind ; 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 299 
 
 Where woman, though delightful still, 
 Quits Nature's case for Fashion's skill, 
 Hides, by the gaudy gloss of art, 
 The simple beauty of her heart, 
 And, born to lift our souls to heaven, 
 Strives for the gaze despised when given, 
 iFcrgets her being's godhke power 
 To shine the wonder of an hour. . 
 •Oft had I sigh'd to think that thou^ 
 An angel fair, could stoop so low j 
 And as with light and airy pride, 
 Mid worldly souls I saw thee glide, 
 Wasting those smiles that love with tears 
 Might live on, all his blessed years. 
 Regret rose from thy causeless mirth. 
 That Heaven could thus be stain'd by Earth, 
 
 O vain regret ! I should have known, 
 
 Thy soul was strung to loftier tone, 
 
 That wisdom bade theejoyful range 
 
 Through worldly paths thoucouldst not change, 
 
 And look with glad and sparkling eve 
 
 Even on life's cureless vanity. 
 
 — But now, thy being':^ inmost blood 
 
 Felt the deep power of solitude. 
 
 From Heaven a sudden glory broke, 
 
300 MISCELLANXOUS POBDIS* 
 
 And all thy angel soul awoke. 
 I hail'd the impulse from above« 
 And friendship was sublimed to love. 
 
 Fair are the vales that peaceful sleep 
 'Mid mountain-silence, lone and deep, 
 Sweet narrow lines of fertile earth, 
 'Mid frowns of horror, smiles of mirth! 
 Fair too the fix'd and floating cloud, 
 The light obscure by eve bestowed, 
 The sky's blue stillness, and the'breast 
 Of lakes, with all that stillness blest. 
 But dearer to my heart and eye, 
 Than valley, mountain, lake, or sky, 
 One nameless stream, whose happy flow 
 Blue as the heavens, or white as snow, 
 And gently-swelling sylvan side. 
 By Mary's presence beautified, 
 Tell ever of expected years, 
 The wish that sighs, the bliss that fears, 
 Till taught at last no more to roam, 
 1 worship the bright Star of Home. 
 
XISCGLLANEOUS POEMg, GOl 
 
 ART AND NATURE. 
 
 SyLPH-LIKE, and with a graceful pride, 
 I saw the wild Louisa glide 
 Along the dance's glittering row, 
 With footsteps soft as falling snow. 
 On all around her smiles she pour'd, 
 And though by all admired, adored, 
 She seem'd to hold tke homage light, 
 And careless claim'd it as her right. 
 With syren voice the Lady sung : 
 Love on her tones enraptured hung, 
 While timid awe and fond desire 
 Came blended from her witching lyre. 
 While thus, with unresisted art, 
 The Enchantress melted every heart, 
 Amid the glance, the sigh, the smile, 
 Herself, unmoved and cold the while, 
 With inward pity eyed the scene, 
 Where all were subjects—she a Queen ! 
 
 Again, I saw that Lady fair : 
 
 Oh ! what a beauteous change was there ! 
 
302 MISCELLANEOCS POIMS. 
 
 In a sweet cottage of her own 
 She sat, and she was all alone. 
 Save a young cliild she sung to rest 
 On its soft bed, her fragrant breast. 
 With happy smiles and happy sighs> 
 She kiss'd the infant's closing eyes, 
 Then, o'er him in the cradle laid, 
 Moved her dear lips as if she pray'd. 
 She bless'd him in his father's name ; 
 Lo ! to her side that father came, 
 And, in a voice subdued and mild, 
 He bless'd the mother and her child ! 
 I thought upon the proud saloon, 
 And that Enchantress Queen j but soon, 
 Far-off Art's fading pageant stole, 
 Aud Nature fiU'd my thoughtful soul i 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 30' 
 
 SONNET I. 
 
 WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF WASTWATER^ 
 DURING A STORM. 
 
 1 HERE is a lake hid far among the hills, 
 That raves around the throne of solitude, . 
 Not fed by gentle streams, or playful rills, 
 Hut headlong cataract and rushing flood. 
 There gleam no lovely hues of hanging wood, 
 No spot of sunshine lights her sullen side j 
 For horror shaped the wild in wrathful mood, 
 And o'er the tempest heaved the mountain's pride. 
 If thou art one, in dark presumption blind, 
 Who vainly deem'st no spirit like to thine, 
 That lofty genius deifies thy mind. 
 Fall prostrate here at Nature's stormy shrine. 
 And as the thunderous scene disturbs thy heart. 
 Lift tli>' changed eye, and own how low thou art* 
 
304 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 SONNET II. 
 
 WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF WASTWATIE, 
 DURING A CALM. 
 
 IS this the Lake, the cradle of the storms, 
 Where silence never tames the mountain-roar, 
 Where poets fear their self-created forms, 
 Or, sunk in trance severe, their God adore ? 
 Is this the Lake, for ever dark and loud 
 With wave and tempest, cataract and cloud ? 
 Wondrous, O Nature ! is thy sovereign power, 
 That gives to horror hours of peaceful mirth ; 
 For here might beauty build her summer-bower ! 
 Lo ! where yon rainbow spans the smiling earth, 
 And, clotiied in glory, through a silent shower 
 The mighty Sun comes forth, a godlike birth ; 
 WhUe, 'neath his loving eye, the gentle Lake 
 Lies like a sleeping child too blest to wake i 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMSl, 305 
 
 SONNET IIL 
 
 WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT; ON HELM-CRAG, 
 
 Go Up among the mountains, when the storm 
 Of midnight howls, but go in that wild mood, 
 When the soul loves tumultuous solitude, 
 And through the haunted air, each giant form 
 Of swinging pine, black rock, or ghostly cloud. 
 That veils some fearful cataract tumbling loud, 
 Seems to thy breathless heart with life embued. 
 Mid those gaunt, shapeless things thou art alone! 
 The mind exists, thinks, trembles through the ear, 
 The memory of the human world is gone. 
 And time and space seem living only here. 
 Oh ! worship thou the visions then made known, 
 While sable glooms round Nature's temple roll, 
 And her dread anthem peals into thy soul. 
 
 O 2 
 
306 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 SONNET IV. 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 J^IST ! while I tell what forms the mountain's voice! 
 
 —The storms are up ; and from yon sable cloud 
 
 Down rush the rains ; while 'mid the thunder loud 
 
 The viewless eagles in wild screams rejoice. 
 
 The echoes answer to the unearthly noise 
 
 Of hurling rocks, that, plunged into the Lake, 
 
 Send up a sullen groan : from clefts and caves, 
 
 As of half-murder'd wretch, hark ! yells awake, 
 
 Or red-eyed frenzy as in chains he raves. 
 
 Iliese form the mountain's voice j these, heard at 
 
 night, 
 Distant from human being's known abode, 
 To earth some spirits bow in cold affright, 
 But some they lift to glory and to God. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 567 
 
 SONNET V. ■ 
 
 THE EVENING-CLOUD, 
 
 A CLOUD lay cradled near the setting sun, 
 A gleam of crimson tinged its braided snow : 
 Long had I watched the glory moving on 
 O'er the still radiance of the Lake below. 
 Tranquil its spirit seem'd, and floated slow ! 
 Even in its very motion, there was rest : 
 While every breath of eve that chanced to bIow<, 
 Wafted the traveller to the beauteous West. 
 Emblem, methought, of the departed soril ! 
 To whose white robe the gleam of bliss is given 3 
 And by the breath of mercy made to roll 
 Right onwards to the golden gates of Heaven, 
 Where, to the eye of Faith, it peaceful lies, 
 And tells to man his glorious destinies. 
 
OS MISCBLLANEOVS POEMS. 
 
 SONNET VI. 
 
 WtlTTEN ON THE SABBATH-DAT. 
 
 When by God's inward light, a happy child, 
 
 I walk in joy, as in the open air, 
 
 It seem'd to my young thought the Sabbath smiled 
 
 With glory and with love. So still, so fair, 
 
 The Heavens looked ever on that hallow'd morn, 
 
 That, without aid of memory, something there 
 
 Had surely told me of its glad retura. 
 
 How did my little heart at evening burn 
 
 When, fondly seated on my father's knee, 
 
 Taught by the lip of love, I breathed the prayer, 
 
 Warm from the fount of infant piety ! 
 
 Much is my spirit changed ; for years have brought 
 
 Intenser feeling and expanded thought; 
 
 —Yet, mm 1 1 envy every child I see ! 
 
•> 
 
 i«lSCELLAN£OCS POBMS. 309 
 
 SONNET VII. 
 
 WRITTEN ON SKIOUAVV, DURING A TEMPEST. 
 
 It was a dreadful day when late I pass'd 
 O'er thy dim vastness, Skiddaw! — Mist and cloud 
 Each subject Fell obscured, and rushing blast 
 To ihee made darling music, wild and loud, 
 Thou Mountain-Monarch ! Rain in torrents play'd, 
 As when at sea a wave is borne to Heaven, 
 A watery spire, then on the crew dismay'd 
 Of reeling ship with downward wrath is driven. 
 I could have thought that every living form 
 Had fled, or perished in that savage storm, 
 So desolate the day. To me were given 
 Peace, calmness, joy : then, to myself I said. 
 Can grief, time, chance, or elements control 
 Man's charter'd pride, the Liberty of Soul? 
 
SIO MISCfiLLANEOUS P©EWe- 
 
 SONNET VIII. 
 
 I WANDEK'D lonely, like a pilgrim sad, 
 O'er mountains known but to the eagle's gaze * 
 Yet, my hush'd heart, with Nature's beauty glad, 
 Slept in the shade, or gloried in the blaze. 
 Romantic vales stole winding to my eye 
 In gradual loveliness, like rising dreams ; 
 Fair, nameless tarns, that seem to blend with sky 
 Rocks of wild majesty, and elfin streams. 
 How strange, methought, I should have lived so 
 
 near. 
 Nor ever worshipp'd Nature's altar here ! 
 Strange! say not so — hid from the world and thee, 
 Though in the midst of life their spirits move, 
 Thousands enjoy in holy liberty 
 The silent Eden ofunenvied Love! 
 
AIISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 511 
 
 SONNET IX. 
 
 WRITTEN ON THE EVENING I HEARD OF THE 
 DEATH OF MY FRIEND, WILLIAM DUNLOP. 
 
 A GOLDEN cloud came floating o'er my head, 
 
 With kindred glories round the sun to blend ! 
 
 Though fair the scene, my dreams were of the dead '. 
 
 — Since dawn of morning I had lost a friend. 
 
 I felt as if my sorrow ne'er could end : 
 
 A cold, pale phantom on a breathless bed, 
 
 The beauty of the crimson west subdued. 
 
 And Bighs that seem'd ipy very life to rend, 
 
 The silent happiness of eve renew'd. 
 
 Grief, fear, regret, a self-tormenting brood 
 
 Dwelt on my spirit, hke a ceaseless noise ; 
 
 But, oh ! what tranquil holiness ensued. 
 
 When, from that cloud, exclaimed a well-know-n 
 
 voice, 
 —God sent me here, to bid my friend rejoice ! 
 
313 MISCELLANEOUS POEMfi. 
 
 LINES 
 
 SACRED TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF THE REV. JAMES GRAHAME, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the SABBATH," «&C. 
 
 Two Editions of this little Poem have been already published ; 
 and its reception among those whom the author most wishfd 
 to please, has induced him to include it in this volume. 
 
 VV ITH tearless eyes and undisturbed heart, 
 
 Bard ! of sinless life and holiest song, 
 
 1 muse upon thy death-bed and thy grave ; 
 Though round that grave the trodden grass still lies 
 Besmeared with clay ; for many feet were there, 
 Fast-rooted to the spot, when slowly sank 
 
 Thy coffin, Grahame ! into the quiet cell. 
 Yet, well 1 loved thee, even as one might love 
 An elder brother, imaged in the soul 
 With solemn features, half-creating awe. 
 But smiling still with gentleness and peace. 
 Tears h-\\e I shed when thj most mournful voice 
 
MISCELLANEOUS P«£MS. SU 
 
 Did tremliliugly breatlie forth that touchiug air, 
 
 By Scottish shepherd haply framed of old, 
 
 Amid the sileirce of his pastoral hills, 
 
 Weeping the flowers on Flodden-ficld that died. 
 
 Wept, too, have I, when thou didst simply read 
 
 From thine own lays so simply beautiful 
 
 Some short pathetic tale of human grief. 
 
 Or orison or hymn of deeper love, 
 
 TLat might have won the sceptic's sullen heart 
 
 To gradual adoration, and belief 
 
 Of Him who died for us upon the cross. 
 
 Yea ! oft when thou wert well, and in the calm 
 
 Of thy most Christian spirit blessing all 
 
 Who look'd upon thee, with those gentlest smiles 
 
 That never lay on human face but thine ; 
 
 Even when thy serious eyes were lighted up 
 
 With kindling mirth, and from thy lips distill'd 
 
 Words soft as dew, and cheerful as the dawn. 
 
 Then, too, I could have wept, for on thy face, 
 
 Eye, voice, and smile, nor less thy bending frame, 
 
 By other cause impair'd than length of years. 
 
 Lay something that still turn'd the thoughtfiil heart 
 
 To melancholy dreams, dreams of decay. 
 
 Of death and burial, and the silent tomb. 
 
 And of the tomb thou art an inmate now ! 
 Methinks I see thy name upon the stone 
 
'^14 MISCELLANEOUS POBMS. 
 
 Placed at thy head, and yet my cheeks are dry. 
 
 Tears could I give thee, when thou wert alive, 
 
 The mournful tears ofdeepforbodinglove 
 
 That might not be restrain'd j but now they seem 
 
 Most idle all! thy worldly course is o'er, 
 
 And leaves such sweet remembrance in my soul 
 
 As some delightful music heard in youth, 
 
 Sad, but not painful, even more spirit-like 
 
 Than when it murmur'd through the shades of earth. 
 
 Short time wert thou allow'd to guide thy flock 
 Through the green pastures, where in quiet glides 
 The Siloah of the soul ! Scarce was thy voice 
 Familiar to their hearts, who felt that heaven 
 Did therein speak, when suddenly it fell 
 Mute and for ever ! Empty now and still 
 The holy honse which thou didst meekly grace. 
 When with uplifted hand, and eye devout. 
 Thy soul was breathed to Jesus, or explained 
 The words that lead unto eternal life. 
 From infancy thy heart was vow'd to God : 
 And aye the hope that one day thou mightst keep 
 A little fold from all the storms of sin 
 Safe-shelter'd, and by reason of thy prayers 
 Warm'd by the sunshine of approving Heaven, 
 Upheld thy spirit, destined for a while 
 
MISeELLAWBOUl POEMS, 315 
 
 To walk, far other paths, and with the crowd 
 Of worldly raen to mingle. Yet even then, 
 Tliy life was ever such as well became 
 One whose pure soul was fixed upon the cross ! 
 And when with simple fervent eloquence, 
 Grahame pled the poor man's cause, the listener oft 
 Thought how becoming would his visage smile 
 Across the house of God, how beauteously 
 That man would teach the saving words of Heaven I 
 
 How well he taught them, many a one will feel 
 Unto their dying day ; and when they lie 
 On the grave's brink, unfearing and composed, 
 Their speechless souls will bless the holy man 
 Whose voice exhorted, and whose footsteps led 
 Unto the paths of life j nor sweeter hope. 
 Next to the gracious look of Christ, have they 
 Than to behold his face who saved their sohIs, 
 
 But closed on earth thy blessed ministry! 
 And while thy native Scotland mourns her son 
 Untimely reft from her maternal breast. 
 Weeps the fair sister-land, with whom ere while 
 The stranger sojourn'd, stranger but in birth, 
 Vor well she loved thee, as thou wert her own. 
 
3T6 MISCBLLANEOUS PdEMg. 
 
 On a most clear and noiseless Sabbath-nigfat 
 I heard that thou wert gone, from the soft Toic* 
 Of one who knew thee not, but deeply loved 
 Thy spirit meekly shining in thy song. 
 At such an hour the death of one like thee 
 Gave no rude shock, nor by a sudden grief 
 Destroy'd the visions from the starry sky 
 Then settling in my soul. The moonlight slept 
 With a diviner sadness on the air j 
 The tender dimness of the night appeared 
 Darkening to deeper sorrow, and the voice 
 Of the far torrent from the silent hills 
 Flow'd, as I listen'd, like a funeral strain 
 Breath'd by some mourning solitary thing. 
 Yet Nature in her pensiveness still wore 
 A blissful smile, as if she sympathized 
 With those who grieved that her own Bard was dead, 
 And yet was happy tkat his spirit dwelt 
 At last within her holiest sanctuary, 
 'Mid long expecting angels. 
 
 And if e'er 
 Faith, fearless faith, in the eternal bliss 
 Of a departed brother, may be held 
 By beings blind as we, that faith should dry 
 All eyes that weep for GRAHAitf £ ; or through their 
 teari 
 
MISCELLANftoUS POEMS. 317 
 
 Shew where he sits august and beautiful 
 
 Oh the right hand pf Jesus, 'mid the saints 
 
 "Whose glory he oh earth so sweetly sang. 
 
 No fears have we when some delightful child 
 
 Falls from its innocence into the grare ! 
 
 Soon as we know its little breath is gone, 
 
 We see it lying in its Saviour's breast, 
 
 A heavenly flower there fed with heavenly dew. 
 
 Childlike in all that makes a child so dear 
 
 To God and man, and ever consecrates 
 
 Its cradle and its grave, my Guahame, wert thou ! 
 
 And hadst thou died upon thy mother's breast 
 
 Ere thou couldst lisp her name, more fit for heaven 
 
 Thou scarce hadst beea, than when thy honour'd 
 
 head 
 Was laid into the dust, and Scotland wept 
 O'er hill and valley for her darling Bard. 
 
 How beautiful is genius when combined 
 With holiness ! Oh, how divinely sweet 
 I The tones of earthly harp, whose chords are touch'd 
 By the soft hand of Piety, and hung 
 Upon Religion's shrine, there vibrating 
 With solemn music in the ear of God. 
 'And must the Bard from sacred themes refi-ain ? 
 
318 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 
 
 Sweet were the hymns in patriarchal days, 
 
 That, kneeling in the silence of his tent, 
 
 Or on some moonlight hill, tlie shepherd pour'd 
 
 Unto his heavenly Father. Strains survive 
 
 Erst chanted to the lyre of Israel, 
 
 More touching far than ever poet breathed 
 
 Amid the Grecian isles, or later times 
 
 Have heard in Albion, land of every lay. 
 
 Why therefore are ye silent, ye who know 
 
 The trance of adoration, and behold 
 
 Upon your bended knees the throne of Heaven, 
 
 And him who sits thereon? Believe it not, 
 
 That Poetry.^ in purer days the nurse, 
 
 Yea^ parent oft of blissful piety, 
 
 Should silent keep from service of her God, 
 
 Nor with her summons, loud but silver-toned. 
 
 Startle the guilty dreamer from his sleep, 
 
 Bidding him gaze with rapture or with dread 
 
 On regions vrhere the sky for ever lies 
 
 Bright as the sun himself, and trembling all 
 
 With ravishing music, or where darkness broods 
 
 O'er ghastly shapes, and sounds not to be borne. 
 
 Such glory, Grahame ! is thine.: Thou didst de- 
 spise 
 To win the ear of this degenerate age 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 319 
 
 By gorgeous epithets, all idly heap'd 
 On theme of earthly state, or, idler still, 
 By tinkling measures and unchasten'd lays^ 
 Warbled to pleasure and her syren-train, 
 Profaning the best name of poesy. 
 With loftier aspirations, and an aim 
 More worthy man's immortal nature, Thou 
 That holiest spirit that still loves to dwell 
 In the upright heart and pure, at noon of night 
 Didst fervently invoke, and, led by her 
 Above the Aonian mount, send from the stars 
 Of heaven such soul-subduing melody 
 As Bethlehem-shepherds heard when Christ was 
 born. 
 
 It is the Sabbath-day : Creation sleeps 
 Cradled within the arms of heavenly love ! 
 The mystic day, when from the vanquish'd grave 
 The world's Redeemer rose, and hail'd the light 
 Of God's forgiving smile. Obscured and pale 
 Were then the plumes of prostrate seraphim, 
 Then hush'd the universe her spherr-born strain, 
 When from his throne, Paternal Deity 
 Declared the Saviour not in vain had shed 
 His martyr'd glory round the accursed cross, 
 That fallen man might sit in Paradise, 
 
S20 MISCELLANSOUS POEMS. 
 
 And earth to heaven ascend in jubilee. 
 O blessed day, hy God and man beloved ! 
 With more surpassing glory breaks thy dawn 
 Upon my soul, remembering the sweet hymns 
 That he, whom nations evermore shall name 
 Tlie Sabbath-Bard, in gratulation high 
 Breathed forth to thee, as from the golden urn 
 That holds the incense of immortal song. 
 
 That Poem, so divinely melancho y 
 Thr nighout its reigning spirit, yet withal 
 Bathing in hues of winning gentleness 
 The pure religion that alone can save. 
 Full many a wanderer to the paths of peace 
 Ere now hath made return, and he who framed 
 Its hallow'd numbers, in the realms of bliss 
 Hath met and known the smiles of seraph-souls , 
 By his delightful genius saved from death. 
 Oft when the soul is lost in thoughtless guilt, 
 And seeming deaf unto the still small voice 
 Of conscience and of God, some simple phrase 
 Of beauty or sublimity will break 
 Tiie spell that link'd us to the bauds of sin, 
 And all at once, as waking from a dream, 
 We shudder at the past, and bless tha light 
 That breaks upon us like the new-bcru day 
 
MISCELLANBOUS POEMt* Sii 
 
 15ven so it fares with them, who to this world 
 
 Jave yielded up their spirits, and, impure 
 
 In thought and act, have lived without a sense 
 
 Of God, who counts the beatings of their hearts. 
 
 But men there are of a sublimer mould, 
 
 Who dedicate with no unworthy zeal 
 
 To human Science, up the toilsome steep 
 
 Where she in darkness dwells, with pilgrim-feet 
 
 By night and day unwearied strive to climb, 
 
 Pride their conductor, glory their reward. 
 
 Too oft, alas ! even in the search of truth 
 
 They pass her on the way, although she speak 
 
 With loving voice, and cast on them her eyes 
 
 So beautifully innocent and pure. 
 
 To such, O Grahame ! thy voice cries from the 
 
 tomb ! 
 Thy worth they loved, thy talents they admired, 
 And when they think how peaceful was thy life, 
 Thy death far more than peaceful, though thon 
 
 sought'st. 
 Above all other knowledge, that of God 
 'And his redeeming Son; when o'er the page 
 Where thy mild soul for ever sits enshrined, 
 iThey hang with soften'd hearts, faith may descend 
 'Upon them as they muse, or hope that leads 
 
S22 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 The way to faith, even as the moraing-star 
 Shines brightly, heralding approaching day. 
 
 But happier visions still now Wess my soul. 
 While lonely wandering o'er the hills and dales 
 Of my dear native country, with such love 
 As they may guess, who, from their father's home 
 Sojourning long and far, fall down and kiss 
 The grass and flowers of Scotland, in I go, 
 Not doubting a warm welcome from the eyes 
 Of woman, man, and child, into a cot 
 Upon a green hill-side, and almost touch'd 
 By its own nameless stream that bathes the roots 
 Of the old ash tree swinging o'er the roof. 
 Most pleasant, Gr4hame ! unto thine eye and heart 
 Such humble home ! there often hast thou sat 
 'Mid the glad family listening to thy voice 
 So silently, the ear might then have caught 
 -Without the nAtle of the falling leaf. 
 And who so sweetly ever sang as thou, 
 The joys and sorrows of the poor man's life. 
 Not fancifully drawn that one might weep, 
 Or suiile, he knew not why, but with the hues 
 Of truth all brightly glistening, to the heart 
 Cheering, as earth's soft verdure to the eye, 
 Yet still and mournful as the evening light 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 32S 
 
 More powerful in the sanctity of death, 
 There reigns thy spirit over those it loved! 
 Some chosen books by pious men composed, 
 Kept from the dust, in every cottage lie 
 Through the wild loneliness of Scotia's vales, 
 Beside the Bible, by whose well-known truths 
 AH human thoughts are by the peasant tried. 
 O blessed privilege of Nature's Bard ! 
 To cheer the house of virtuous poverty, 
 With gleams of light more beautiful than oft 
 Play o'er the splendours of the palace wall, 
 Methinks I see a fair and lovely child 
 Sitting composed upon his mother's knee. 
 And reading with a low and lisping voice 
 Some passage from the Sabbath, while the tears 
 Stand in his little eyes so softly blue, 
 Till, quite overcome with pity, his white arms 
 He twines around her neck, and hides his sighs 
 Most infantine within her gladden'd breast, 
 Like a sweet lamb, half sportive, half afraid, 
 Nesthng one moment 'neath its bleating dam. 
 And now the happy mother kisses oft 
 The tender-hearted child, lays down the book. 
 And asks him if he doth remember still 
 The stranger who once gave him, long ago, 
 A parting kiss, and blest bis laughing eyes! 
 
9S4 UISCELLANEOVS POEMS, 
 
 His sobs speak fond remembrance, and he weeps, 
 To think so kind and good a man should die. 
 
 Though dead on earth, yet he from heaven looks 
 down 
 On thee, sweet child ! and others pure like thee I 
 Made happier, though an angel, by the sight 
 Of happiness, and virtue by himself 
 Created or preserved j and oft his soul 
 Leaves for a while her amaranthine bowers, 
 And dimly hears the choral symphonies 
 Of spirits singing round the Saviour's throne, 
 Delighted with a glimpse of Scotland's vales 
 Winding round hills where once his pious hymns 
 Were meditated in his silent heart, 
 Or with those human beings here beloved, 
 Whether they smile, as virtue ever smiles, 
 With sunny countenance gentle and benign, 
 Or a slight shade of sadness seems to say, 
 That they are thinking ofthe sainted soul 
 That looks from heaven on them ! — 
 
 A holy creed 
 It is, and most delightful unto all 
 Who feel how deeply human sympathies 
 Blend with our hopes of heaven, which holds that 
 death 
 
JCKCELLANCaUS POEMf, SSS 
 
 Divideth not, as by a roaring sea, 
 Departed spirits from this lower sphere. 
 How ceuld the virtuous even in heaven be blest, 
 Unless they saw the lovers and the friends, 
 Whom soon they hope to greet ! A placid lake 
 Between Time floateth and Eternity, 
 Across whose sleeping waters murmur oft 
 The voices of the immortal, hither brought 
 Soft as the thought of music in the soul. .. '- 
 Deep, deep the love we bear unto the dead I 
 The adoring reverence that we humbly pay 
 To one who is a spirit, still partakes 
 Of that affectionate tenderness we own'd 
 Towards a being, once, perhaps, as frail 
 And human as ourselves, and in the shape 
 Celestial, and angelic lineaments. 
 Shines a fair likeness ef the form and face 
 That won in former days our earthly love, 
 
 O Gra hame ! even I in midnight dreams behold 
 Thy placid aspect, more serenely fair 
 Than the sweet moon that calms the autumnal Lea« 
 
 veu. 
 Thy voice steals, 'mid the pauses of the wind, 
 Unto my listening soul more touchingly 
 Than the pathetic tones of airy harp 
 
326 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 
 
 That sound at evening like a spirit's song. 
 
 Yet, many are there dearer to thy shade, 
 
 Yea, dearer far than I ; and when their tears 
 
 They dry at last (and wisdom bids them weep, 
 
 If long and oft, O sure not bitterly) 
 
 Then wilt thou stand before their raptured eyes 
 
 As beautiful as kneeling saint e'er deeni'd 
 
 In his bright cell Messiah's vision'd form. 
 
 I may not think upon her blissful dreams 
 
 Who bears thy name on earth, and in it feels, 
 
 A christian glory and a pious pride, 
 
 That must illume the widow's lonely path 
 
 With never dying sunshine.— To her soul 
 
 Soft sound the strains now flowing fast from mine ! 
 
 And in those tranquil hours when she withdraws 
 
 From loftier consolations, may the tears^ 
 
 (For tears will fall, most idle though they be,) 
 
 Now shed by me to her but little known. 
 
 Yield comfort to her as a certain pledge 
 
 That many a one, though silent and unseen, 
 
 Thinks of her and the children at her knees. 
 
 Blest for the father's and the husbaud'» sake. 
 
 TH£ END. 
 
» 
 
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