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Of the fierce wind, while mid-day lightnings

prowl

Insidiously, untimely thunders growl;

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While trees, dim-seen, in frenzied numbers, tear

The lingering remnant of their yellow hair, And shivering wolves, surprised with darkness,

howl

As if the sun were not.

He raised his eye

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Soul-smitten; for, that instant did appear
Large space (mid dreadful clouds) of purest sky,
An azure disc-shield of Tranquillity;
Invisible, unlooked-for, minister

Of providential goodness ever nigh!

Feb. 1819.

XVI.

TO A SNOW-DROP.

LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they

But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead as if fearful to offend,

Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, way-lay

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The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed
May

Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing 10
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of
Spring,

And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

1819. (?)

XVII.

TO THE LADY MARY LOWTHER.

With a selection from the Poems of Anne, Countess of Winchilsea; and extracts of similar character from other Writers; transcribed by a female friend. LADY! I rifled a Parnassian Cave (But seldom trod) of mildly-gleaming ore; And culled, from sundry beds, a lucid store Of genuine crystals, pure as those that pave The azure brooks, where Dian joys to lave Her spotless limbs; and ventured to explore Dim shades-for reliques, upon Lethe's shore, Cast up at random by the sullen wave. To female hands the treasures were resigned; And lo this Work!—a grotto bright and clear 10 From stain or taint; in which thy blameless mind

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May feed on thoughts though pensive not austere ;

Or, if thy deeper spirit be inclined
To holy musing, it may enter here.

1820. (?)

XVIII.

TO LADY BEAUMONT.

LADY! the songs of Spring were in the grove While I was shaping beds for winter flowers; While I was planting green unfading bowers, And shrubs-to hang upon the warm alcove, And sheltering wall; and still, as Fancy wove 5 The dream, to time and nature's blended powers I gave this paradise for winter hours,

A labyrinth, Lady! which your feet shall rove. Yes! when the sun of life more feebly shines, Becoming thoughts, I trust, of solemn gloom 10 Or of high gladness you shall hither bring

And these perennial bowers and murmuring

pines

Be gracious as the music and the bloom

And all the mighty ravishment of spring.

XIX.

THERE is a pleasure in poetic pains

1807.

Which only Poets know ;-'t was rightly said; Whom could the Muses else allure to tread Their smoothest paths, to wear their lightest chains?

10

When happiest Fancy has inspired the strains, 5
How oft the malice of one luckless word
Pursues the Enthusiast to the social board,
Haunts him belated on the silent plains!
Yet he repines not, if his thought stand clear,
At last, of hindrance and obscurity,
Fresh as the star that crowns the brow of morn;
Bright, speckless, as a softly-moulded tear
The moment it has left the virgin's eye,
Or rain-drop lingering on the pointed thorn.
1827. (?)

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XX.

THE Shepherd, looking eastward, softly said,
'Bright is thy veil, O Moon, as thou art
bright!"

Forthwith that little cloud, in ether spread
And penetrated all with tender light,

She cast away, and showed her fulgent head 5
Uncovered; dazzling the Beholder's sight
As if to vindicate her beauty's right,
Her beauty thoughtlessly disparagèd.
Meanwhile that veil, removed or thrown aside,
Went floating from her, darkening as it went; 19
And a huge mass, to bury or to hide,

Approached this glory of the firmament; Who meekly yields, and is obscured-content With one calm triumph of a modest pride, 1815. (?)

XXI.

WHEN haughty expectations prostrate lie,
And grandeur crouches like a guilty thing,
Oft shall the lowly weak, till nature bring
Mature release, in fair society

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Survive, and Fortune's utmost anger try;
Like these frail snow-drops that together cling,
And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing
Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.
Observe the faithful flowers! if small to great
May lead the thoughts, thus struggling used to
stand

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The Emathian phalanx, nobly obstinate;
And so the bright immortal Theban band,
Whom onset, fiercely urged at Jove's command,
Might overwhelm, but could not separate!

1820. (?)

XXII.

HAIL, Twilight, sovereign of one peaceful hour!
Not dull art Thou as undiscerning Night;
But studious only to remove from sight
Day's mutable distinctions.-Ancient Power!
Thus did the waters gleam, the mountains
lower,

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To the rude Briton, when, in wolf-skin vest
Here roving wild, he laid him down to rest
On the bare rock, or through a leafy bower
Looked ere his eyes were closed. By him was

seen

The self-same Vision which we now behold, 10

At thy meek bidding, shadowy Power! brought

forth;

These mighty barriers, and the gulf between ; The flood, the stars,-a spectacle as old

As the beginning of the heavens and earth! 1815. (?)

XXIII.

WITH how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the sky,

"How silently, and with how wan a face!" Where art thou? Thou so often seen on high Running among the clouds a Wood-nymph's race!

Unhappy Nuns, whose common breath's a sigh 5 Which they would stifle, move at such a pace! The northern Wind, to call thee to the chase, Must blow to-night his bugle horn. Had I The power of Merlin, Goddess! this should be: And all the stars, fast as the clouds were riven, 10 Should sally forth, to keep thee company, Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue heaven;

But, Cynthia! should to thee the palm be

given,

Queen both for beauty and for majesty.

XXIV.

1806. (?)

EVEN as a dragon's eye that feels the stress
Of a bedimming sleep, or as a lamp

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Sullenly glaring through sepulchral damp,
So burns yon Taper 'mid a black recess
Of mountains, silent, dreary, motionless:
The lake below reflects it not; the sky
Muffled in clouds, affords no company

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1.66 "Sullenly," edd. 1815, 1820, 1838. "Suddenly," edd. 1827-1849 (except 1838).-Ed.

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