May

On infant bosoms lonely Nature lies.

VI FLOWERS

ERE yet our course was graced with social

trees

It lacked not old remains of hawthorn bowers,

Where small birds warbled to their para

mours;

And, earlier still, was heard the hum of bees;

I saw them ply their harmless robberies, And caught the fragrance which the sundry flowers,

Fed by the stream with soft perpetual showers,

Plenteously yielded to the vagrant breeze. There bloomed the strawberry of the wilderness;

The trembling eyebright showed her sapphire blue,1

The thyme her purple, like the blush of Even;

And if the breath of some to no caress Invited, forth they peeped so fair to view, All kinds alike seemed favourites of Heaven.

VII

'CHANGE me, some God, into that breathing rose !"

The love-sick Stripling fancifully sighs,
The envied flower beholding, as it lies
On Laura's breast, in exquisite repose;
Or he would pass into her bird, that throws
1 See Note.

The darts of song from out its wiry cage; Enraptured, could he for himself engage The thousandth part of what the Nymph bestows;

And what the little careless innocent Ungraciously receives. Too daring choice! There are whose calmer mind it would content

To be an unculled floweret of the glen, Fearless of plough and scythe; or darkling

wren

That tunes on Duddon's banks her slender voice.

VIII

WHAT aspect bore the Man who roved or fled,

First of his tribe, to this dark dell-who first

In this pellucid Current slaked his thirst? What hopes came with him? what designs were spread

Along his path? His unprotected bed What dreams encompassed? Was the in

truder nursed

In hideous usages, and rites accursed, That thinned the living and disturbed the dead?

No voice replies;-both air and earth are mute;

And Thou, blue Streamlet, murmuring yield'st no more

Than a soft record, that, whatever fruit Of ignorance thou might'st witness heretofore,

Thy function was to heal and to restore, To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute!

NOT so that Pair whose youthful spirits dance

With prompt emotion, urging them to pass;

A sweet confusion checks the Shepherdlass;

Blushing she eyes the dizzy flood askance; To stop ashamed-too timid to advance; She ventures once again—another pause! His outstretched hand He tauntingly withdraws

She sues for help with piteous utterance! Chidden she chides again; the thrilling touch

Both feel, when he renews the wished-for aid:

Ah! if their fluttering hearts should stir too much,

Should beat too strongly, both may be betrayed.

The frolic Loves, who, from yon high rock,

see

The struggle, clap their wings for victory!

Is traceable a vestige of the notes
That ruled those dances wild in character?—
Deep underground? Or in the upper air,
On the shrill wind of midnight? or where
floats

XIV

O MOUNTAIN Stream! the Shepherd and his Cot

Are privileged Inmates of deep solitude;

XII

HINTS FOR THE FANCY

ON, loitering Muse-the swift Stream chides us-on!

Albeit his deep-worn channel doth immure
Objects immense portrayed in miniature,
Wild shapes for many a strange comparison!
Niagaras, Alpine passes, and anon
Abodes of Naiads, calm abysses pure,
Bright liquid mansions, fashioned to endure
When the broad oak drops, a leafless

skeleton,

And the solidities of mortal pride,

Palace and tower, are crumbled into dust!— The Bard who walks with Duddon for his guide,

Shall find such toys of fancy thickly set: Turn from the sight, enamoured Musewe must;

And, if thou canst, leave them without regret!

XIII

OPEN PROSPECT

HAIL to the fields-with Dwellings sprinkled

o'er,

And one small hamlet, under a green hill Clustering, with barn and byre, and spouting mill!

A glance suffices; —should we wish for more, Gay June would scorn us. But when bleak winds roar

Through the stiff lance-like shoots of pollard ash,

Dread swell of sound! loud as the gusts that lash

The matted forests of Ontario's shore

By wasteful steel unsmitten-then would I Turn into port; and, reckless of the gale, Reckless of angry Duddon sweeping by, While the warm hearth exalts the mantling ale,

Laugh with the generous household heartily At all the merry pranks of Donnerdale!

A field or two of brighter green, or plot
Of tillage-ground, that seemeth like a spot
Of stationary sunshine:-thou hast viewed
These only, Duddon! with their paths re-
newed

By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not. Thee hath some awful Spirit impelled to leave,

Utterly to desert, the haunts of men, Though simple thy companions were and few;

And through this wilderness a passage cleave

Attended but by thy own voice, save when The clouds and fowls of the air thy way pursue! 1806.

XV

FROM this deep chasm, where quivering sunbeams play

Upon its loftiest crags, mine eyes behold
A gloomy NICHE, capacious, blank, and
cold;

A concave free from shrubs and mosses grey;
In semblance fresh, as if, with dire affray,
Some Statue, placed amid these regions old
For tutelary service, thence had rolled,
Startling the flight of timid Yesterday!
Was it by mortals sculptured?-weary slaves
Of slow endeavour! or abruptly cast
Into rude shape by fire, with roaring blast
Tempestuously let loose from central caves?
Or fashioned by the turbulence of waves,
Then, when o'er highest hills the Deluge
passed?

XVI

AMERICAN TRADITION

SUCH fruitless questions may not long beguile

Or plague the fancy 'mid the sculptured shows

Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows; There would the Indian answer with a smile Aimed at the White Man's ignorance, the while,

Innocuous as a firstling of the flock,
And countenanced like a soft cerulean sky,
Shalt change thy temper; and, with many

a shock

Given and received in mutual jeopardy, Dance, like a Bacchanal, from rock to rock, Tossing her frantic thyrsus wide and high !

XXI

WHENCE that low voice?-A whisper from the heart,

That told of days long past, when here I roved

With friends and kindred tenderly beloved; Some who had early mandates to depart, Yet are allowed to steal my path athwart By Duddon's side; once more do we unite, Once more, beneath the kind Earth's tranquil light;

And smothered joys into new being start. From her unworthy seat, the cloudy stall Of Time, breaks forth triumphant Memory; Her glistening tresses bound, yet light and free

As golden locks of birch, that rise and fall On gales that breathe too gently to recall Aught of the fading year's inclemency!

XXIII

SHEEP-WASHING

SAD thoughts, avaunt!—partake we their blithe cheer

Who gathered in betimes the unshorn flock To wash the fleece, where haply bands of rock,

Checking the stream, make a pool smooth and clear

As this we look on. Distant Mountains hear,

Hear and repeat, the turmoil that unites
Clamour of boys with innocent despites
Of barking dogs, and bleatings from strange

fear.

And what if Duddon's spotless flood receive Unwelcome mixtures as the uncouth noise Thickens, the pastoral River will forgive Such wrong; nor need we blame the licensed joys,

Though false to Nature's quiet equipoise: Frank are the sports, the stains are fugitive.

XXII

TRADITION

A LOVE-LORN Maid, at some far-distant time,

Came to this hidden pool, whose depths

surpass

In crystal clearness Dian's looking-glass; And, gazing, saw that Rose, which from the prime

Derives its name, reflected, as the chime Of echo doth reverberate some sweet sound: The starry treasure from the blue profound She longed to ravish ;-shall she plunge, or climb

The humid precipice, and seize the guest Of April, smiling high in upper air? Desperate alternative! what fiend could

dare

To prompt the thought?-Upon the steep rock's breast

The lonely Primrose yet renews its bloom, Untouched memento of her hapless doom!

XXIV

THE RESTING-PLACE

MID-NOON is past;-upon the sultry mead No zephyr breathes, no cloud its shadow throws:

If we advance unstrengthened by repose,
Farewell the solace of the vagrant reed!
This Nook-with woodbine hung and
straggling weed

Tempting recess as ever pilgrim chose,
Half grot, half arbour-proffers to enclose
Body and mind, from molestation freed,
In narrow compass-narrow as itself:
Or if the Fancy, too industrious Elf,

Be loth that we should breathe awhile exempt

From new incitements friendly to our task, Here wants not stealthy prospect, that may

tempt

Loose Idless to forego her wily mask.

XXV

METHINKS 'twere no unprecedented feat Should some benignant Minister of air Lift, and encircle with a cloudy chair,