University of Virginia Library

TO THE SAME.

IN THE SPRING THAT SUCCEEDED IMPRISONMENT, MAY, 1815.

[The baffled spell that bound me is undone]

The baffled spell that bound me is undone,
And I have breathed once more beneath thy sky,
Lovely-brow'd Hampstead; and my looks have run,
O'er and about thee: and had scarce drawn nigh,
When I beheld, in momentary sun,
One of thy hills gleam bright and bosomy,
Just like that orb of orbs, a human one,
Let forth by chance upon a lover's eye.
Forgive me then, that not till now I spoke;
For all the comforts, miss'd in close distress,
With airy nod came up from every part,
O'er-smiling speech: and so I gazed, and took
A long, deep draught of silent freshfulness,
Ample, and gushing round my feeble heart.