IV Forgive me, Freedom! O forgive those dreams! streams! Heroes, that for your peaceful country per- And ye, that fleeing, spot your mountain snows cherished 70 One thought that ever blessed your cruel foes! HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, Of all that made their stormy wilds so dear; Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, And with inexpiable spirit To taint the bloodless freedom of the mountaineer O France, that mockest Heaven, adulterous, blind, And patriot only in pernicious toils! Are these thy boasts, Champion of human kind? 80 To mix with Kings in the low lust of sway, Yell in the hunt, and share the murderous prey; To insult the shrine of Liberty with spoils From freemen torn; to tempt and to betray? V The Sensual and the Dark rebel in vain, Slaves by their own compulsion! In mad game They burst their manacles and wear the name ever Didst breathe thy soul in forms of human power. Alike from all, howe'er they praise thee, Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer I worshipped the Invisible alone. And visited all night by troops of stars, The guide of homeless winds, and playmate of Who made thee parent of perpetual streams? the waves! Who gave you your invulnerable life, THE KNIGHT'S TOMB Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your Where is the grave of Sir Arthur O'Kellyn? joy, Unceasing thunder and eternal foam? And who commanded (and the silence came), Where may the grave of that good man be?- Under the twigs of a young birch tree! Ye Ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's And rustled its leaves in the fall of the year, And whistled and roared in the winter alone, SONG FROM ZAPOLYA, ACT II, SCENE I A sunny shaft did I behold, He sunk, he rose, he twinkled, he trolled His eyes of fire, his beak of gold, And thus he sang: Adieu! adieu! YOUTH AND AGE* Verse, a breeze mid blossoms straying, Thou too, hoar Mount! with thy sky-point- Both were mine! Life went a-maying ing peaks, 70 Oft from whose feet the avalanche, unheard, serene Into the depth of clouds, that veil thy breast— Solemnly seemest, like a vapoury cloud, With Nature, Hope, and Poesy, 10 When I was young?—Ah, woeful When! 79 Rise like a cloud of incense from the Earth! 1 A mountain in Cumberland. A first rough draft of this poem was called "Area Spontanea," and the whole still reads like a musical improvisation. Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like; Friendship is a sheltering tree; O! the joys, that came down shower-like, Of Friendship, Love, and Liberty, Ere I was old! Ere I was old? Ah woeful Ere, Which tells me, Youth's no longer here! Dew-drops are the gems of morning, That only serves to make us grieve Yet hath out-stay 'd his welcome while, WORK WITHOUT HOPE† So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall, Among bridesmen, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all: Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword, All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their For the poor craven bridegroom said never a lair word, The bees are stirring-birds are on the wing-Oh! come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, And Winter slumbering in the open air, Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing. Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow, Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow. Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may, For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away! With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll: Written in 1827: the mournful Ay de mi of a man confronted by age and sickness and looking back over a life of defeated hopes and wasted opportunities. Or to dance at our Lochinvar?' bridal, young Lord 18 Every sense in slumber dewing. The bride kissed the goblet: the knight took With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye. 'Now tread we a measure!' said young Lochinvar. 30 So stately his form, and so lovely her face, No rude sound shall reach thine ear, Mustering clan or squadron tramping. Booming from the sedgy shallow. And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnets Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing, and plume; And the bride-maidens whispered "Twere bet- To have matched our fair cousin with young 36 One touch to her hand and one word in her ear, So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung, Shouting clans or squadrons stamping. Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done; Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying: How thy gallant steed lay dying. | Think not of the rising sun, They'll have fleet steeds that follow,' quoth Here no bugles sound reveillé. young Lochinvar. 42 There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode There was racing and chasing on Cannobie But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see. So daring in love and so dauntless in war, CORONACH5 FROM THE LADY OF THE LAKE, CANTO III He is gone on the mountain, Like a summer-dried fountain, 12 18 24 30 36 48 He witnessed from the mountain's height, With what old Bertram3 told at night, As shallop launched on river's tide, "The Minstrel came once more to view 370 Upon her eyrie nods the erne,4 Is it the thunder's solemn sound I see the dagger-crest of Mar,5 That up the lake comes winding far! Or bard of martial lay, 'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, One glance at their array! 380 390 "Their light-armed archers far and near 400 Surveyed the tangled ground, Their centre ranks, with pike and spear, A twilight forest frowned, Their barded horsemen, in the rear, The stern battalias crowned. Save heavy tread, and armour's clang, There breathed no wind their crests to shake, Or wave their flags abroad; Scarce the frail aspen seemed to quake, That shadowed o'er their road. Can rouse no lurking foe, Nor spy a trace of living thing, Save when they stirred the roe; 5 A Lowland leader. 6 prepared 7 armed with plate-ar mor 8 battle array 9 vanward 410 420 10 The rough mountains and pass in the Highlands hetween Lochs Katrine and Achray. |