And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles
on the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,
on the leaping waters and gay young isles;
ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away.
GRAZIOSA luna, io mi rammento
che, or volge l'anno, sovra questo colle
io venià pien d' angoscia a ramirarti ;
e tu pendevi allor su quella selva
siccome or fai, che tutta la rischiari.
Ma nebuloso e tremulo del pianto
che mi sorgea sul ciglio, alle mie luci
il tuo volto apparìa, chè travagliosa
era mia vita: ed è, nè cangia stile,
o mia diletta luna. E pur mi giova
la ricordanza, e il noverar l' etate
del mio dolore. Oh come grato occorre
nel tempo giovanil, quando ancor lungo
la speme e breve ha la memoria il corso,
il remembrar delle passate cose,
ancor che triste, e che l' affanno duri!
PEACE UPON EARTH
T came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold :-
'peace upon earth, goodwill to man
from heaven's all-gracious King'!
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wing unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on heavenly wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.
THE BLIND GIRL'S DEAREST JEWEL
IF this delicious grateful flower,
I which docious hour,
should to the sight as lovely be,
as from its fragrance seems to me,
a sigh must then its colour show,
for that's the softest joy I know:
and sure the rose is like a sigh,
born just to soothe and then to die.
My father, when our fortunes smiled,
with jewels deck'd his sightless child;
their glittering worth the world might see;
but ah! they shed no sweets for me:
still, as the present fail'd to charm,
the trickling drop bedew'd my arm;
and sure the gem to me most dear
was a kind father's pitying tear.
HE little songster thus you see
caught in the cruel schoolboy's toils,
struggling for life, at last like me
escapes and leaves his feather'd spoils.
His plumage soon resumes its gloss,
his little heart soon waxes gay;
nor falls, grown cautious from his loss,
to artifice again a prey.
Which of us has most cause to grieve?
which situation would you choose?
I a capricious tyrant leave,
and you a faithful lover lose.
I can find maids in every rout
with smiles as false and forms as fine;
but you must search the world throughout
to find a heart as true as mine.
SAY, wh that face?
AY, lovely dream, where could'st thou find
colours of this glorious kind
: come not from any mortal place.
In heaven itself thou sure wer't drest
with that angel-like disguise;
thus deluded am I blest,
and see my joy with closéd eyes.
Fair dream, if thou intend'st me grace,
change that heav'nly face of thine;
paint despis'd love in thy face,
and make it to appear like mine.
Then to that matchless Nymph appear,
in whose shape thou shinest so;
softly in her sleeping ear
with humble words express my woe.
"O sea! to sea! the calm is o'er,
the wanton water leaps in sport,
and rattles down the pebbly shore,
the dolphin wheels, the sea cows snort,
and unseen mermaid's pearly song
comes bubbling up, the weeds among.
Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar:
to sea! to sea! the calm is o'er.
To sea! to sea! our white winged bark
shall billowing clear its watery way,
and with its shadow, fleet and dark,
break the caved Tritons' azure day,
like mountain eagle soaring light
o'er antelopes on Alpine height.
The anchor heaves! the ship swings free!
our sails swell full! to sea! to sea.
EAR me ye winds, indulgent to my pains, near some sad ruin's ghastly shade to dwell; here let me fondly eye the rude remains,
and from the mouldering refuse build my cell!
Genius of Rome, thy prostrate pomp display;
trace every dismal proof of fortune's pow'r;
let me the wreck of theatres survey,
or pensive sit beneath some nodding tow'r.
Or when some duct, by rolling seasons worn,
conveyed pure streams to Rome's imperial walls, near the wide breach in silence let me mourn; or tune my dirges to the water's fall.
Genius of Carthage! paint thy ruined pride:
towers, arches, fanes in wild confusion strewn;
let banished Marius, lowering by thy side,
compare thy fickle fortunes with his own.
EIGH me the fire; or canst thou find
EIGH
a way to measure out the wind;
distinguish all those floods that are
mixt in that watrie theater:
and tast thou them as saltlesse there,
as in their channell first they were.
tell me the people that do keep
within the kingdomes of the deep;
or fetch me back that cloud againe
beshiver'd into seeds of Raine;
tell me the motes, dust, sands and speares
of corn, when summer shakes his eares:
shew me that world of starres, and whence
they noiselesse spill their influence:
this if thou canst; then show me Him
that rides the glorious Cherubim.
TO THE RIVER CHARLES
RIVER, that in silence windest
through the meadows, bright and free,
till at length thy rest thou findest
in the bosom of the sea!
Four long years of mingled feeling,
half in rest and half in strife,
I have seen thy waters stealing
onward, like the stream of life.
Thou hast taught me, silent River!
many a lesson, deep and long;
thou hast been a generous giver,
I can give thee but a song.
Oft in sadness and in illness
I have watched thy current glide,
till the beauty of its stillness
overflowed me, like a tide.
JT forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,
east wind and frost are safely gone;
with Zephyr mild and balmy rain
the summer comes serenely on;
earth, air and sun and skies combine
to promise all that's kind and fair:-
but thou, O human heart of mine,
be still, contain thyself and bear.
December days were brief and chill,
the winds of March were wild and drear,
and nearer and receding still,
spring never would, we thought, be here;
the leaves that burst, the suns that shine,
had, not the less, their certain date:-
and thou, O human heart of mine,
be still, refrain thyself and wait.
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