 | Erato, number II |  |
A SIMILE.
Far in the slumberous West,
Cliff-like, and piled on the horizon's verge,
A dark cloud lay at rest.
There was no wind to urge
It from its quiet couch—and there it lay,
Dreaming the dewy twilight hour away.
Cliff-like, and piled on the horizon's verge,
A dark cloud lay at rest.
There was no wind to urge
It from its quiet couch—and there it lay,
Dreaming the dewy twilight hour away.
But while I look'd, it seem'd
By some convulsion, inward, to be torn.
Soon on the air it stream'd
In fragments, and was borne,
All rent and tatter'd, from my aching sight—
Severed too widely e'er to re-unite.
By some convulsion, inward, to be torn.
Soon on the air it stream'd
In fragments, and was borne,
All rent and tatter'd, from my aching sight—
Severed too widely e'er to re-unite.
38
In their paternal home
A numerous circle lived, in happy peace.
They fear'd no ills to come,
But dream'd of joy's increase.
By want or poverty unpinch'd, they ne'er
Had known the bosom's storm—the heart's despair.
A numerous circle lived, in happy peace.
They fear'd no ills to come,
But dream'd of joy's increase.
By want or poverty unpinch'd, they ne'er
Had known the bosom's storm—the heart's despair.
But from their quiet hearth,
Misfortune soon, or discord, swept them far.
They went wind-driven forth,
Guided by no fix'd star.
Some roam the earth—some sail the billowy main—
Severed too widely to unite again.
Misfortune soon, or discord, swept them far.
They went wind-driven forth,
Guided by no fix'd star.
Some roam the earth—some sail the billowy main—
Severed too widely to unite again.
But, as the ample space
Receiv'd, and all absorb'd that scatter'd cloud,
So, when their mortal race
Ends with the pall and shroud,
Shall THEY, by infinite space receiv'd, ascend
And have new being, without change or end!
Receiv'd, and all absorb'd that scatter'd cloud,
So, when their mortal race
Ends with the pall and shroud,
Shall THEY, by infinite space receiv'd, ascend
And have new being, without change or end!
| Erato, number II | |