Page images
PDF
EPUB

Or, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, 10 Yield to such after-thought the sole reply Which justly it can claim. The Nation hears In this deep knell, silent for threescore years An unexampled voice of awful memory!

1820.

VI.

JUNE, 1820.

FAME tells of groves-from England far away-
Groves' that inspire the Nightingale to trill
And modulate, with subtle reach of skill
Elsewhere unmatched, her ever-varying lay;
Such bold report I venture to gainsay:
For I have heard the quire of Richmond hill
Chanting with indefatigable bill,

5

ΙΟ

Strains that recalled to mind a distant day; When, haply under shade of that same wood, And scarcely conscious of the dashing oars Plied steadily between those willowy shores, The sweet-souled Poet of the Seasons stood— Listening, and listening long, in rapturous mood, Ye heavenly Birds! to your Progenitors.

VII.

A PARSONAGE IN OXFORDSHIRE.

WHERE holy ground begins, unhallowed ends,
Is marked by no distinguishable line;
The turf unites, the pathways intertwine;
And, wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends,
Garden, and that Domain where kindred,
friends,

And neighbours rest together, here confound
Their several features, mingled like the sound
Of many waters, or as evening blends

1 Wallachia is the country alluded to.

5

With shady night. Soft airs, from shrub and

flower,

Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave; 10 And while those lofty poplars gently wave Their tops, between them comes and goes a sky Bright as the glimpses of eternity,

To saints accorded in their mortal hour.

1820.

VIII.

COMPOSED AMONG THE RUINS OF A CASTLE IN NORTH WALES.

THROUGH shattered galleries, 'mid roofless halls, Wandering with timid footsteps oft betrayed, The Stranger sighs, nor scruples to upbraid Old Time, though he, gentlest among the Thralls

5

Of Destiny, upon these wounds hath laid
His lenient touches, soft as light that falls,
From the wan Moon, upon the towers and walls,
Light deepening the profoundest sleep of shade.
Relic of Kings! Wreck of forgotten wars,
To winds abandoned and the prying stars,
Time loves Thee! at his call the Seasons twine
Luxuriant wreaths around thy forehead hoar;
And, though past pomp no changes can restore,
A soothing recompense, his gift, is thine!

1824.

IO

IX.

TO THE LADY E. B. AND THE HON. MISS P.

Composed in the Grounds of Plass Newidd, near Llangollen, 1824.

A STREAM, to mingle with your favourite Dee, Along the VALE OF MEDITATION1 flows;

1 Glyn Myrvr.

So styled by those fierce Britons, pleased to

see

5

In Nature's face the expression of repose;
Or haply there some pious hermit chose
To live and die, the peace of heaven his aim;
To whom the wild sequestered region owes,
At this late day, its sanctifying name.
GLYN CAFAILLGAROCH, in the Cambrian

tongue,

In ours, the VALE OF FRIENDSHIP, let this

spot

ΙΟ

Be named; where, faithful to a low-roofed Cot,
On Deva's banks, ye have abode so long;
Sisters in love, a love allowed to climb,
Even on this earth, above the reach of Time!

1824.

X.

TO THE TORRENT AT THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE, NORTH

WALES, 1824.

How art thou named? In search of what strange land,

From what huge height, descending? Can such

force

Of waters issue from a British source,

Or hath not Pindus fed thee, where the band Of Patriots scoop their freedom out, with hand 5 Desperate as thine? Or come the incessant shocks

From that young Stream, that smites the throbbing rocks,

Of Viamala ?

There I seem to stand, As in life's morn; permitted to behold, From the dread chasm, woods climbing above

woods,

In pomp that fades not; everlasting snows;

ΙΟ

And skies that ne'er relinquish their repose;
Such power possess the family of floods
Over the minds of Poets, young or old!

XI.

IN THE WOODS OF RYDAL.

1824.

WILD Redbreast! hadst thou at Jemima's lip Pecked, as at mine, thus boldly, Love might

say,

A half-blown rose had tempted thee to sip
Its glistening dews; but hallowed is the clay
Which the Muse warms; and I, whose head is

grey,

5

Am not unworthy of thy fellowship;
Nor could I let one thought-one motion--slip
That might thy sylvan confidence betray.
For are we not all His without whose care
Vouchsafed no sparrow falleth to the ground? 10
Who gives his Angels wings to speed through
air,

And rolls the planets through the blue profound;
Then peck or perch, fond Flutterer! nor forbear
To trust a Poet in still musings bound.

XII.

1827. (?)

WHEN Philoctetes in the Lemnian isle
Like a Form Sculptured on a monument
Lay couched; on him or his dread bow unbent
Some wild Bird oft might settle and beguile
The rigid features of a transient smile,
Disperse the tear, or to the sigh give vent,
Slackening the pains of ruthless banishment.
From his loved home, and from heroic toil.
And trust that spiritual Creatures round us

move,

5

[ocr errors]

Griefs to allay which Reason cannot heal;
Yea, veriest reptiles have sufficed to prove
To fettered wretchedness that no Bastille
Is deep enough to exclude the light of love,
Though man for brother man has ceased to feel.
1827. (?)

XIII.

WHILE Anna's peers and early playmates tread, In freedom, mountain-turf and river's marge; Or float with music in the festal barge;

Rein the proud steed, or through the dance are led;

5

Her doom it is to press a weary bed—
Till oft her guardian Angel, to some charge
More urgent called, will stretch his wings at
large,

10

And friends too rarely prop the languid head.
Yet, helped by Genius-untired comforter,
The presence even of a stuffed Owl for her
Can cheat the time; sending her fancy out
To ivied castles and to moonlight skies,
Though he can neither stir a plume, nor shout;
Nor veil, with restless film, his staring eyes.
1827. (?)

XIV.

TO THE CUCKOO.

Nor the whole warbling grove in concert heard When sunshine follows shower, the breast can

thrill

Like the first summons, Cuckoo! of thy bill,
With its twin notes inseparably paired.
The captive 'mid damp vaults unsunned,

unaired,

5

« PreviousContinue »