Page images
PDF
EPUB

Not uninspired appear their simplest ways; 15
Their voices mount symbolical of praise—
To mix with hymns that Spirits make and hear;
And to fallen man their innocence is dear.
Enraptured Art draws from those sacred springs
Streams that reflect the poetry of things!
Where Christian Martyrs stand in hues por-
trayed,

20

24

29

That, might a wish avail, would never fade,
Borne in their hands the lily and the palm
Shed round the altar a celestial calm;
There, too, behold the lamb and guileless dove
Prest in the tenderness of virgin love
To saintly bosoms!-Glorious is the blending
Of right affections climbing or descending
Along a scale of light and life, with cares
Alternate; carrying holy thoughts and prayers
Up to the sovereign seat of the Most High;
Descending to the worm in charity;
Like those good Angels whom a dream of night
Gave, in the field of Luz, to Jacob's sight
All, while he slept, treading the pendent stairs
Earthward or heavenward, radiant messengers,
That, with a perfect will in one accord
Of strict obedience, serve the Almighty Lord;
And with untired humility forbore

34

39

To speed their errand by the wings they wore.

What a fair world were ours for verse to

paint,

If Power could live at ease with self-restraint!
Opinion bow before the naked sense

Of the great Vision,--faith in Providence ;
Merciful over all his creatures, just
To the least particle of sentient dust ;
But fixing by immutable decrees
Seedtime and harvest for his purposes!

45

50

Then would be closed the restless oblique eye
That looks for evil like a treacherous spy;
Disputes would then relax, like stormy winds
That into breezes sink; impetuous minds
By discipline endeavour to grow meek
As Truth herself, whom they profess to seek. 54
Then Genius, shunning fellowship with Pride,
Would braid his golden locks at Wisdom's side;
Love ebb and flow untroubled by caprice;
And not alone harsh tyranny would cease,
But unoffending creatures find release
From qualified oppression, whose defence
Rests on a hollow plea of recompense;
Thought-tempered wrongs, for each humane
respect

60

Oft worse to bear, or deadlier in effect.
Witness those glances of indignant scorn
From some high-minded Slave, impelled to

spurn

65

The kindness that would make him less forlorn;
Or, if the soul to bondage be subdued,
His look of pitiable gratitude!

Alas for thee, bright Galaxy of Isles, Whose day departs in pomp, returns with smiles

70

To greet the flowers and fruitage of a land,
As the sun mounts, by sea-born breezes fanned;
A land whose azure mountain-tops are seats
For Gods in council, whose green vales, retreats
Fit for the shades of heroes, mingling there 75
To breathe Elysian peace in upper air.

Though cold as winter, gloomy as the grave, Stone-walls a prisoner make, but not a slave. Shall man assume a property in man?

Lay on the moral will a withering ban? 80

Shame that our laws at distance still protect Enormities, which they at home reject! “Slaves cannot breathe in England ”—yet that boast

Is but a mockery! when from coast to coast, Though fettered slave be none, her floors and soil

Groan underneath a weight of slavish toil,
For the poor Many, measured out by rules
Fetched with cupidity from heartless schools,
That to an Idol, falsely called "the Wealth
Of Nations," sacrifice a People's health,
Body and mind and soul; a thirst so keen
Is ever urging on the vast machine

85

90

Of sleepless Labour, 'mid whose dizzy wheels The Power least prized is that which thinks and feels.

100

Then, for the pastimes of this delicate age, 95 And all the heavy or light vassalage Which for their sakes we fasten, as may suit Our varying moods, on human kind or brute, 'Twere well in little, as in great, to pause, Lest Fancy trifle with eternal laws. Not from his fellows only man may learn Rights to compare and duties to discern! All creatures and all objects, in degree, Are friends and patrons of humanity. There are to whom the garden, grove, and field,

105

Perpetual lessons of forbearance yield;
Who would not lightly violate the grace
The lowliest flower possesses in its place;
Nor shorten the sweet life, too fugitive,
Which nothing less than Infinite Power could
give.

110

XXXII.

THE unremitting voice of nightly streams
That wastes so oft, we think, its tuneful

powers,

If neither soothing to the worm that gleams Through dewy grass, nor small birds hushed in bowers,

Nor unto silent leaves and drowsy flowers,-
That voice of unpretending harmony

(For who what is shall measure by what seems To be, or not to be,

Or tax high Heaven with prodigality?)

Wants not a healing influence that can creep
Into the human breast, and mix with sleep
To regulate the motion of our dreams
For kindly issues-as through every clime
Was felt near murmuring brooks in earliest
time;

As at this day the rudest swains who dwell
Where torrents roar, or hear the tinkling knell
Of water-breaks, with grateful heart could tell.

1846.

XXXIII.

THOUGHTS ON THE SEASONS.

FLATTERED With promise of escape
From every hurtful blast,

Spring takes, O sprightly May! thy shape,
Her loveliest and her last.

Less fair is summer riding high
In fierce solstitial power,

Less fair than when a lenient sky
Brings on her parting hour.

5

When earth repays with golden sheaves
The labours of the plough,

And ripening fruits and forest leaves
All brighten on the bough;

What pensive beauty autumn shows,

Before she hears the sound

Of winter rushing in, to close

The emblematic round!

Such be our Spring, our Summer such;
So may our Autumn blend

With hoary Winter, and Life touch,
Through heaven-born hope, her end!

10

15

20

1829.

XXXIV.

ΤΟ

UPON THE BIRTH OF HER FIRST-BORN CHILD, MARCH, 1833.

"Tum porro puer, ut sævis projectus ab undis
Navita, nudus humi jacet," &c.-LUCRETIUS.

LIKE a shipwrecked Sailor tost
By rough waves on a perilous coast,
Lies the Babe, in helplessness
And in tenderest nakedness,
Flung by labouring nature forth
Upon the mercies of the earth.
Can its eyes beseech ?-
-no more
Than the hands are free to implore:
Voice but serves for one brief cry;
Plaint was it? or prophecy
Of sorrow that will surely come ?
Omen of man's grievous doom!

5

ΙΟ

« PreviousContinue »