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VI.

I WATCH, and long have watched, with calm regret

Yon slowly-sinking star-immortal Sire
(So might he seem) of all the glittering quire!
Blue ether still surrounds him—yet—and yet;
But now the horizon's rocky parapet
5
Is reached, where, forfeiting his bright attire,
He burns-transmuted to a dusky fire-
Then pays submissively the appointed debt
To the flying moments, and is seen no more.
Angels and gods! We struggle with our fate, 10
While health, power, glory, from their height
decline,

Depressed; and then extinguished and our

state,

:

In this, how different, lost Star, from thine,
That no to-morrow shall our beams restore!

VII.

1819. (?)

5

I HEARD (alas! 'twas only in a dream)
Strains-which, as sage Antiquity believed,
By waking ears have sometimes been received
Wafted adown the wind from lake or stream;
A most melodious requiem, a supreme
And perfect harmony of notes, achieved
By a fair Swan on drowsy billows heaved,
O'er which her pinions shed a silver gleam.
For is she not the votary of Apollo?
And knows she not, singing as he inspires,
That bliss awaits her which the ungenial Hollow1
Of the dull earth partakes not, nor desires?
Mount, tuneful Bird, and join the immortal
quires!

10

1 See the "Phædo" of Plato, by which this Sonnet was suggested.

She soared-and I awoke, struggling in vain to

follow.

VIII.

RETIREMENT.

1819. (?)

IF the whole weight of what we think and feel, Save only far as thought and feeling blend With action, were as nothing, patriot Friend! From thy remonstrance would be no appeal; But to promote and fortify the weal

5

Of her own Being is her paramount end;
A truth which they alone shall comprehend
Who shun the mischief which they cannot heal.
Peace in these feverish times is sovereign bliss:
Here, with no thirst but what the stream can
slake,

10

And startled only by the rustling brake,
Cool air I breathe; while the unincumbered Mind,
By some weak aims at services assigned
To gentle Natures, thanks not Heaven amiss.
1827. (?)

IX.

NOT Love, not War, nor the tumultuous swell
Of civil conflict, nor the wrecks of change,
Nor Duty struggling with afflictions strange-
Not these alone inspire the tuneful shell;
But where untroubled peace and concord dwell, 5
There also is the Muse not loth to range,
Watching the twilight smoke of cot or grange,
Skyward ascending from a woody dell.
Meek aspirations please her, lone endeavour,
And sage content, and placid melancholy;
She loves to gaze upon a crystal river—
Diaphanous because it travels slowly;
Soft is the music that would charm for ever;
The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.
1823. (?)

10

X.

MARK the concentred hazels that enclose
Yon old grey Stone, protected from the ray
Of noontide suns:-and even the beams that play
And glance, while wantonly the rough wind
blows,

Are seldom free to touch the moss that grows 5
Upon that roof, amid embowering gloom,
The very image framing of a Tomb,

In which some ancient Chieftain finds repose
Among the lonely mountains.-Live, ye trees!
And thou, grey Stone, the pensive likeness keep 10
Of a dark chamber where the Mighty sleep:
For more than Fancy to the influence bends
When solitary Nature condescends
To mimic Time's forlorn humanities.

1815. (?)

XI.

COMPOSED AFTER A JOURNEY ACROSS THE
HAMBLETON HILLS, YORKSHIRE.

DARK and more dark the shades of evening fell;
The wished-for point was reached-but at an hour
When little could be gained from that rich

dower

Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell.
Yet did the glowing west with marvellous power 5
Salute us; there stood Indian citadel,

Temple of Greece, and minster with its tower
Substantially expressed-a place for bell
Or clock to toll from! Many a tempting isle,
With groves that never were imagined, lay 10
'Mid seas how steadfast! objects all for the eye
Of silent rapture; but we felt the while
We should forget them; they are of the sky,
And from our earthly memory fade away.
Oct. 4, 1802.

66

XII.

they are of the sky,

And from our earthly memory fade away.”

THOSE words were uttered as in pensive mood
We turned, departing from that solemn sight:
A contrast and reproach to gross delight,
And life's unspiritual pleasures daily wooed!
But now upon this thought I cannot brood; 5
It is unstable as a dream of night;

Nor will I praise a cloud, however bright,
Disparaging Man's gifts, and proper food.
Grove, isle, with every shape of sky-built dome,
Though clad in colours beautiful and pure, 10
Find in the heart of man no natural home:
The immortal Mind craves objects that endure:
These cleave to it; from these it cannot roam,
Nor they from it: their fellowship is secure.
1806. (?)

XIII.

SEPTEMBER, 1815.

WHILE not a leaf seems faded; while the fields, With ripening harvest prodigally fair,

In brightest sunshine bask; this nipping air, Sent from some distant clime where Winter

wields

His icy scimitar, a foretaste yields

5

Of bitter change, and bids the flowers beware;
And whispers to the silent birds, "Prepare
Against the threatening foe your trustiest
shields."

For me, who under kindlier laws belong
To Nature's tuneful quire, this rustling dry 10
Through leaves yet green, and yon crystalline

sky,

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