O LET the happy hymn the praise of Spring,
The glowing beauties of the vernal morn,
And tell what joys their halcyon hours adorn,
In strains harmonious as the themes they sing.
Come Autumn, shade severe ! O haste and bring
The gloom congenial of the pensive hour,
When o'er the stillness of thy songless bower
The shades of eve a kindred darkness fling.
For I would wander thro' thy leafless grove,
And when I pause, and mark the songsters fled,
Or the sere leaf lie lifeless on its bed,
I'll dream of parted joy and buried love—
Own the dark hour with kindred gloom imbued,
Sad as my fate severe, and as my sorrows rude!
OFT had I thought, while gazing on the night,
That the refulgent science of the sky,
Writ on yon ebon scroll, in lines of light,
Might somewhat be compared to poetry.
And he, the seer of old, whose gifted eye
Perchance awak'd his truant flocks to guard,
Did catch those nightly lessons writ on high,
Him have I also likened to the bard.
And I had wished (the boon hath not been given),
Yes, vainly wished, that to mine eye were taught
An art more dear than ever Chaldee sought!
But soon bewilder'd 'mid the mazy heaven,
My downcast eye must tremblingly retire,
Content to gaze on that I only may admire!
METHOUGHT, as late I gazed, that every star,
While rushing to its nightly space assign'd,
Smiled on its fellow orb a welcome kind,
Like friends endeared, who know and greet afar.
“And thus,” I said, " shall that assembly meet
"Of stars composed, and orbs of heav'n's own light, "That call'd from earth, to move in spheres more bright "Shall each with other hold communion sweet?" And that alone, methought, were bliss, to greet
The friend of earth endear'd in heav'n, to prove
While holding converse high with those we love,
That all their promise here is there complete,
To claim the twin-born soul, and mutual find
The faults of earth effaced, and every charm refined.
ON HEARING A LADY DECLARE THAT SHE COULD NOT LIVE IN SOLITUDE.
THOU canst not live in solitude, Oh, no!
For thou art blest with every gentlest grace,
And such divinest charms of form and face,
As niggard Nature seldom deigns bestow.
Thou canst not live in solitude, Oh, no!
For thy pure taste and all-accomplish'd mind
Were formed to share in every bliss refined,
That gentlest minds and noblest natures know.
Thou canst not live in solitude, Oh, no!
For thou art framed with feelings, such as thrill Through angel-bosoms, when at sights of ill They weep o'er wand'rers in this vale below. Thou canst not live in solitude, Oh, no!
For thou wast form'd to share in human joy or woe.
ENGLAND! thy cliffs look frowningly, and dark
The storm-clouds gath'ring round thy distant brow,
Would seem, in sullen guise, to chide the bark
That turns to other shores its truant prow.
Land of my sires! although I wander now
O'er the fair fields and vine-clad hills of France,
Or join on classic shores th' Italian dance,
Still shall my heart preserve its earliest vow;
And as my devious steps the farther roam
From those white cliffs, and yonder lessening shore, I'll own thine influence stronger than before,
And hail with dearer zeal my island home;
Asking alone, a safe return to thee,
Land of the wise and good, and birth-place of the free!
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