Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

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.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Than a soft record that whatever fruit

Of ignorance thou mightst witness here

tofore,

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

zone

IX.

THE STEPPING-STONES.

Into a brook of loud and stately march, THE struggling rill insensibly is grown And, for like use, lo! what might seem a Crossed ever and anon by plank and arch; Chosen for ornament: stone matched with In studied symmetry, with interspace [stone For the clear waters to pursue their race Without restraint.-How swiftly have they flown, [child Succeeding still succeeding! Here the Puts, when the high-swoln flood runs fierce and wild, His budding courage to the proof;-and [here Declining manhood learns to note the sly And sure encroachments of infirmity, Thinking how fast time runs, life's end how near !

X.

THE SAME SUBJECT.

NOT so that pair whose youthful spirits
dance

A sweet confusion checks the shepherd-lass;
With prompt emotion, urging them to pass;
Blushing she eyes the dizzy flood askance,—
To stop ashamed-too timid to advance;
His outstretched hand he tauntingly with-
She ventures once again-another pause!
draws-

She sues for help with piteous utterance !

[blocks in formation]

No fiction was it of the antique age;
A sky-blue stone, within this sunless cleft,
Is of the very footmarks unbereft
Which tiny elves impressed; on that smooth
stage

Dancing with all their brilliant equipage
In secret revels-haply after theft

Of some sweet babe, flower stolen, and
coarse weed left.

For the distracted mother to assuage
Her grief with, as she might !-But, where,
oh ! where

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

O'er twilight fields the autumnal gossamer?

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 muse-we

must;

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

FROM this deep chasm-where quivering
sunbeams play

Upon its loftiest crags-mine eyes behold
A gloomy niche, capacious, blank, and
cold;
[gray;

A concave free from shrubs and mosses
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

And, if thou canst, leave them without regret !

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
past?

XVI.

AMERICAN TRADITION.

SUCH fruitless questions may not long beguile [shows Or plague the fancy, 'mid the sculptured Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows; There would the Indian answer with a smile Aimed at the white man's ignorance, the while

Of the Great Waters telling how they rose, Covered the plains, and, wandering where they chose,

Mounted through every intricate defile, Triumphant.-Inundation wide and deep, O'er which his fathers urged, to ridge and steep

Else unapproachable, their buoyant way; And carved, on mural cliff's undreaded side,

Sun, moon, and stars, and beast of chase or prey; Whate'er they sought, shunned, loved, or deified!*

[blocks in formation]

XVIII.

SEATHWAITE CHAPEL.

SACRED religion, "mother of form and fear,"

Dread arbitress of mutable respect.
New rites ordaining, when the old are
wrecked,

Or cease to please the fickle worshipper;
If one strong wish may be embosomed here,
Mother of love! for this deep vale, protect
Truth's holy lamp, pure source of bright
effect,

Gifted to purge the vapoury atmosphere
That seeks to stifle it ;-as in those days
When this low pile a gospel teacher knew,
Whose good works formed an endless
retinue t

Such priest as Chaucer sang in fervent lays; Such as the Heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew; [less praise!

And tender Goldsmith crowned with death

XIX.

TRIBUTARY STREAM.

My frame hath often trembled with delight
When hope presented some far-distant
good,
[the flood
That seemed from Heaven descending, like
Of yon pure waters, from their aery height
Hurrying with lordly Duddon to unite;
Who, mid a world of images imprest
On the calm depth of his transparent breast,
Appears to cherish most that torrent white,
And seldom hath ear listened to a tune
The fairest, softest, liveliest of them all!
More lulling than the busy hum of noon,
Swoln by that voice-whose murmur

musical

Announces to the thirsty fields a boon Dewy and fresh, till showers again shall fall.

XX.

THE PLAIN OF DONNERDALE.

THE old inventive poets, had they seen,
Or rather felt, the entrancement that detains
Thy waters, Duddon ! 'mid these flowery
plains,

The still repose, the liquid lapse serene,
Transferred to bowers imperishably green,
Had beautified Elysium! But these chains

† See Note to Sonnet xvii.

[graphic][merged small][merged small]
« PredošláPokračovať »