When we had given our bodies to the wind, And all the shadowy banks on either side Came sweeping through the darkness, spinning still The rapid line of motion, then at once Have I, reclining back upon my heels, Stopped short; yet still the solitary cliffs Wheeled by me-even as if the earth had rolled With visible motion her diurnal round! Behind me did they stretch in solemn train, Feebler and feebler, and I stood and watched Till all was tranquil as a summer sea.
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN,
HIGH on her speculative tower Stood Science waiting for the hour When Sol was destined to endure That darkning of his radiant face Which Superstition strove to chase, Erewhile, with rites impure.
Afloat beneath Italian skies, Through regions fair as Paradise We gaily passed, till Nature wrought A silent and unlooked-for change, That checked the desultory range Of joy and sprightly thought.
Where'er was dipped the toiling oar The waves danced round us as before, As lightly, though of altered hue; 'Mid recent coolness, such as falls At noon-tide from umbrageous walls That screen the morning dew.
No vapour stretched its wings; no cloud Cast far or near a murky shroud;
The sky an azure field displayed;
"I was sun-light sheathed and gently charmed Of all its sparkling rays disarmed,
And as in slumber laid :
Or something night and day between,
Like moon-shine-but the hue was green;
Still moon-shine, without shadow, spread On jutting rock and curved shore, Where gazed the peasant from his door, And on the mountain's head.
But Fancy, with the speed of fire, Hath fled to Milan's loftiest spire, And there alights 'mid that aerial host Of figures human and divine, White as the snows of Appenine Indurated by frost.
Awe-stricken she beholds the array
That guards the temple night and day;
Angels she sees that might from heaven have flown; And virgin saints-who not in vain
Have striven by purity to gain
The beatific crown;
Far-stretching files, concentric rings Each narrowing above each ;-the wings-
The uplifted palms, the silent marble lips,
The starry zone of sovereign height, All steeped in this portentous light! All suffering dim eclipse!
Thus after man had fallen, (if aught These perishable spheres have wrought May with that issue be compared) Throngs of celestial visages, Darkening like water in the breeze, A holy sadness shared.
See! while I speak, the labouring Sun His glad deliverance has begun: The cypress waves its sombre plume More cheerily; and town and tower, The vineyard and the olive bower, Their lustre reassume!
Oh ye, who guard and grace my home While in far distant lands we roam, Inquiring thoughts are turned to you; Does a clear ether meet your eyes? Or have black vapours hid the skies And mountains from your view?
I ask in vain-and know far less If sickness, sorrow, or distress Have spared my dwelling to this hour: Sad blindness! but ordained to prove Our faith in Heaven's unfailing love And all-controlling Power.
COMPOSED UPON AN EVENING OF EXTRAORDINARY
HAD this effulgence disappeared With flying haste, I might have sent Among the speechless clouds, a look Of blank astonishment;
But 't is endued with power to stay, And sanctify one closing day, That frail Mortality may see,- What is ?-ah no, but what can be!
Time was when field and watery cove
With modulated echoes rang,
While choirs of fervent Angels sang
Their vespers in the grove;
Or ranged like stars along some sovereign height, Warbled, for heaven above and earth below,
Strains suitable to both.-Such holy rite,
Methinks, if audibly repeated now
From hill or valley, could not move
Sublimer transport, purer love,
Than doth this silent spectacle-the gleam-
The shadow-and the peace supreme!
No sound is uttered,—but a deep And solemn harmony pervades The hollow vale from steep to steep, And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh,
Called forth by wonderous potency
Of beamy radiance, that imbues
Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues!
In vision exquisitely clear,
Herds range along the mountain side;
And glistening antlers are descried;
And gilded flocks appear.
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine, Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe That this magnificence is wholly thine! -From worlds not quickened by the sun A portion of the gift is won;
An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread On ground which British shepherds tread!
And, if there be whom broken ties
Afflict, or injuries assail,
Yon hazy ridges to their eyes,
Present a glorious scale,
Climbing suffused with sunny air, To stop-no record hath told where! And tempting fancy to ascend, And with immortal Spirits blend! -Wings at my shoulder seem play; But, rooted here, I stand and gaze
On those bright steps that heaven-ward raise Their practicable way.
Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad And see to what fair countries ye are bound! And if some Traveller, weary of his road, Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy ground, Ye Genii! to his covert speed;
And wake him with such gentle heed As may attune his soul to meet the dower Bestowed on this trancendent hour!
Such hues from their celestial Urn Were wont to stream before my eye, Where'er it wandered in the morn Of blissful infancy.
This glimpse of glory, why renewed? Nay, rather speak with gratitude; For, if a vestige of those gleams Survived, 't was only in my dreams.
Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve No less than Nature's threatening voice, If aught unworthy be my choice, From Thee if I would swerve,
Oh, let thy grace remind me of the light, Full early lost, and fruitlessly deplored; Which at this moment on my waking sight Appears to shine, by miracle restored! My soul though yet confined to earth, Rejoices in a second birth;
-T is past, the visionary splendour fades, And night approaches with her shades.
IN youth from rock to rock I went, From hill to hill, in discontent Of pleasure high and turbulent,
Most pleased when most uneasy; But now my own delights I make,- My thirst at every rill can slake, And gladly Nature's love partake Of thee, sweet Daisy !
When soothed awhile by milder airs, Thee winter in the garland wears That thinly shades his few gray hairs; Spring cannot shun thee;
Whole summer fields are thine by right; And autumn, melancholy wight! Doth in thy crimson head delight When rains are on thee.
In shoals and bands, a morrice train, Thou greet'st the traveller in the lane; If welcomed once thou coun'st it gain; Thou art not daunted,
Nor car'st if thou be set at nought: And oft alone in nooks remote
We meet thee, like a pleasant thought, When such are wanted.
Be Violets in their secret mews The flowers the wanton Zephyrs choose; Proud be the Rose, with rains and dews Her head impearling;
Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim, Yet hast not gone without thy fame; Thou art indeed by many a claim The Poet's darling.
If to a rock from rains he fly, Or, some bright day of April sky, Imprisoned by hot sunshine lie
Near the green holly,
And wearily at length should fare; He needs but look about, and there Thou art! a friend at hand, to scare His melancholy.
A hundred times, by rock or bower, Ere thus I have lain couched an hour,
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