XLI.

THE FOREGOING SUBJECT RESUMED

AMONG a grave fraternity of Monks,
For One, but surely not for One alone,
Triumphs, in that great work, the Painter's skill
Humbling the body, to exalt the soul;
Yet representing, amid wreck and wrong
And dissolution and decay, the warm
And breathing life of flesh, as if already
Clothed with impassive majesty, and graced
With no mean earnest of a heritage
Assigned to it in future worlds. Thou, too,
With thy memorial flower, meek Portraiture'
From whose serene companionship I passed,
Pursued by thoughts that haunt me still; thou
also-

Though but a simple object, into light
Called forth by those affections that endear
The private hearth; though keeping thy sole seat
In singleness, and little tried by time,
Creation, as it were, of yesterday-
With a congenial function art endued
For each and all of us, together joined
In course of nature under a low roof
By charities and duties that proceed
Out of the bosom of a wiser vow.
To a like salutary sense of awe

POEMS OF SENTIMENT AND REFLECTION. 319

power

Or sacred wonder, growing with the
Of meditation that attempts to weigh,
In faithful scales, things and their opposites,
Can thy enduring quiet gently raise

A household small and sensitive, whose love, Dependent as in part its blessings are

Upon frail ties dissolving or dissolved

On earth, will be revived, we trust, in heaven.*

so fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive,

Would that the little Flowers were born to live, Conscious of half the pleasure which they give;

That to this mountain-daisy's self were known
The beauty of its star-shaped shadow, thrown
On the smooth surface of this naked tone!

* In the class entitled "Musings," in Mr. Southey's Minor Poems, is one upon his own miniature picture, taken in childhood, and another upon a landscape painted by Gaspar Poussin. It is possible that every word of the above verses, though similar in subject, might have been written had the author been unacquainted with those beautiful effusions of poetic sentiment. But, for his own satisfaction, he must be allowed thus publicly to acknowledge the pleasure those two Poems of his Friend have given him, and the grateful influence they have upon his mind as often as he reads them, or thinks of them.

And what if hence a bold desire should mount High as the Sun, that he could take account Of all that issues from his glorious fount!

So might he ken how by his sovereign aid
These delicate companionships are made;
And how he rules the pomp of light and shade;

And were the Sister-power that shines by night So privileged, what a countenance of delight Would through the clouds break forth on human sight!

Fond fancies! wheresoe'er shall turn thine eye, On earth, air, ocean, or the starry sky, Converse with Nature in pure sympathy;

All vain desires, all lawless wishes quelled,
Be thou to love and praise alike impelled,
Whatever boon is granted or withheld.

XLIII.

UPON SEEING A

COLORED DRAWING OF

THE BIRD OF PARADISE IN AN ALBUM.

WHO rashly strove thy Image to portray?

Thou buoyant minion of the tropic air;

How could he think of the live creature,

gay

With a divinity of colors, drest

In all her brightness, from the dancing crest
Far as the last gleam of the filmy train
Extended and extending to sustain

The motions that it graces,

and forbear

To drop his pencil! Flowers of every clime
Depicted on these pages smile at time;
And gorgeous insects copied with nice care
Are here, and likenesses of many a shell
Tost ashore by restless waves,

up

Or in the diver's grasp fetched
from caves
Where sea-nymphs might be proud to dwell:
But whose rash hand (again I ask) could dare,
'Mid casual tokens and promiscuous shows,
To circumscribe this Shape in fixed repose;
Could imitate for indolent survey,
Perhaps for touch profane,

Plumes that might catch, but cannot keep, a stain;
And, with cloud-streaks lightest and loftiest, share
The sun's first greeting, his last farewell ray!

Resplendent Wanderer! followed with glad eyes Where'er her course; mysterious Bird! To whom, by wondering Fancy stirred, Eastern Islanders have given

A holy name, the Bird of Heaven!

And even a title higher still,

The Bird of God! whose blessed will

She seems performing as she flies

Over the earth and through the skies
In never-wearied search of Paradise, —
Region that crowns her beauty with the name
She bears for us, - for us how blest,

How happy at all seasons, could like aim
Uphold our Spirits urged to kindred flight
On wings that fear no glance of God's pure sight,
No tempest from his breath, their promised rest
Seeking with indefatigable quest

Above a world that deems itself most wise
When most enslaved by gross realities!

1835.