Thomas Cole's poetry the collected poems of America's foremost painter of the Hudson River School reflecting his feelings for nature and the romantic spirit of the Nineteenth Century |
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 | Thomas Cole's poetry |  |
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89.
The Mountain Bird
Roused by the carol of the mountain bird
From dreams of earth and sorrow I awoke.
Uplifted by the blissful strains I heard
Bright Hope again upon my spirit broke:
From dreams of earth and sorrow I awoke.
Uplifted by the blissful strains I heard
Bright Hope again upon my spirit broke:
“O bird!” I said “That warblest to the soul
And with wild musick through the summer long
Dost charm the orbèd days as on they roll
And makest the mountains listeners to thy song;
And with wild musick through the summer long
Dost charm the orbèd days as on they roll
And makest the mountains listeners to thy song;
“Whence is the magic of thine artless strain?
Is it the effluence of a sinless breast:—
The gush of innocent joy untouched by pain,—
The beauteous language of a Spirit blessed?
Is it the effluence of a sinless breast:—
The gush of innocent joy untouched by pain,—
The beauteous language of a Spirit blessed?
“Sing on thou Heaven-taught Minstrel so thy song
May find the inmost chamber of my soul—
And echoing there its melody prolong
'Till death's dark billows o'er my bosom roll.
May find the inmost chamber of my soul—
And echoing there its melody prolong
'Till death's dark billows o'er my bosom roll.
“If unto thee such melody is given,
Subject to Death and earth-born like to me,
The burthen of my song so full of Heaven,
What must the choral songs of Seraphs be—?”
Subject to Death and earth-born like to me,
The burthen of my song so full of Heaven,
What must the choral songs of Seraphs be—?”
Catskill Mountain House
| Thomas Cole's poetry | |