 | [Poems by Smith in] The Echo |  |
915
ODE,
TO BIRTHA.
With every changement of the varying mind
New feelings animate the mortal frame;
And new sensations of the body, claim
A soul to equal sympathy inclined.
New feelings animate the mortal frame;
And new sensations of the body, claim
A soul to equal sympathy inclined.
See Malice on the face imprint
A dimpled smile, the down-drawn lip that strains,
Half bend the brow, and place the eye asquint,
And shrink, with expectation, all the veins.
See pale Consumption o'er the sage's soul
Spread idiot weakness, infantine distress,
Raise with false hope, with faithless joy controul,
With fancied, groundless agony depress.
A dimpled smile, the down-drawn lip that strains,
Half bend the brow, and place the eye asquint,
And shrink, with expectation, all the veins.
See pale Consumption o'er the sage's soul
Spread idiot weakness, infantine distress,
Raise with false hope, with faithless joy controul,
With fancied, groundless agony depress.
While with invigorating health we tread,
And Youth, with dewy fingers, binds
Her crown of roses round the head,
Borne on the winged winds,
Imagination strays.
Wherever Nature's hand her charms displays—
Be it to see “the rich-hair'd Youth of Morn”
Impearl the fragrance-breathing thorn;
To see the mist wind slowly o'er the hill;
Or hear, from unseen bank, loud burst the gurgling rill;
Or Zephyr rustle sweet the woods among
Whose thickets swell with melody and song;
To hear the voice of Industry resound;
The ploughman whistling o'er the loamy ridge;
The shepherd's tinkling bell that talks around;
And hoofs loud rattling o'er the village bridge;
Or torrents foaming down the mountain's breast;—
There doth imagination love to rest.
And Youth, with dewy fingers, binds
Her crown of roses round the head,
Borne on the winged winds,
Imagination strays.
Wherever Nature's hand her charms displays—
Be it to see “the rich-hair'd Youth of Morn”
Impearl the fragrance-breathing thorn;
To see the mist wind slowly o'er the hill;
Or hear, from unseen bank, loud burst the gurgling rill;
Or Zephyr rustle sweet the woods among
Whose thickets swell with melody and song;
To hear the voice of Industry resound;
The ploughman whistling o'er the loamy ridge;
The shepherd's tinkling bell that talks around;
And hoofs loud rattling o'er the village bridge;
Or torrents foaming down the mountain's breast;—
There doth imagination love to rest.
But when the sallow hand of Sickness spreads
Wan desolation o'er the human face,
No more imagination loves to trace
The sportive beauties of the laughing meads.
Wan desolation o'er the human face,
No more imagination loves to trace
The sportive beauties of the laughing meads.
916
But the drear cavern, and the dark some dell,
The wild faint-gleaming with the meteor's light,
The distant watch-tower's hollow-sounding bell,
And tempests brooding o'er the inclement night;
Blue, sulphur-breathing, flames, from church-yard paths that rise,
Dim, shadowy forms, that dance before the sight,
The quick-departing flash, that wraps the skies,
And horror's scream, the melancholy soul delight.
The wild faint-gleaming with the meteor's light,
The distant watch-tower's hollow-sounding bell,
And tempests brooding o'er the inclement night;
Blue, sulphur-breathing, flames, from church-yard paths that rise,
Dim, shadowy forms, that dance before the sight,
The quick-departing flash, that wraps the skies,
And horror's scream, the melancholy soul delight.
When deep disease hangs heavy on the mind,
Such sympathetic grief the body feels,
That he but half restores, who only heals
The woe with which the anguish'd spirit pined:
For health must give new vigor to the frame
Ere soft Contentment can the bosom claim.
Such sympathetic grief the body feels,
That he but half restores, who only heals
The woe with which the anguish'd spirit pined:
For health must give new vigor to the frame
Ere soft Contentment can the bosom claim.
So, if the hand of agony distress
The suffering body with distracting pain,
No earthly medicine can so well sustain,
No costly cordial can so truly bless,
As the calm soul, to providence resign'd—
The steady sunshine of the immortal mind.
The suffering body with distracting pain,
No earthly medicine can so well sustain,
No costly cordial can so truly bless,
As the calm soul, to providence resign'd—
The steady sunshine of the immortal mind.
O then, my Birtha! from the scenes
Where gloomy Contemplation loves to dwell,
From musing Melancholy's cell,
Your wounded spirit call,
To where eternal love the soul serenes,
And Heaven's own finger's “dress the dreary ball.”
Where gloomy Contemplation loves to dwell,
From musing Melancholy's cell,
Your wounded spirit call,
To where eternal love the soul serenes,
And Heaven's own finger's “dress the dreary ball.”
Read and reflect, reflect and read;
Make it your constant study and employ,
The grand, affecting, solemn, truths to heed,
Which wake, of pious hearts, the moral joy.
These as you study, torn from dreary views,
New bliss shall animate your soul,
New strength your body brace;
With sweet delight the fancy trace
The lighter paths of moral dues,
And see contentment light the mental pole.
Make it your constant study and employ,
The grand, affecting, solemn, truths to heed,
Which wake, of pious hearts, the moral joy.
These as you study, torn from dreary views,
New bliss shall animate your soul,
New strength your body brace;
With sweet delight the fancy trace
The lighter paths of moral dues,
And see contentment light the mental pole.
By soft degrees, the scenes which former days
On your imagination pictured fair,
Shall rise, bedeck'd with joy-reviving rays,
And from your bosom chase the monster Care.
Then Happiness, with powerful arm,
Shall wrest his poignard from Disease,
And from the features that were born to please,
Scatter, of felon Sickness, far the fallow charm:
Again shall bid health sparkle from your eye;
In every step bid laughing pleasure dance;
Young Love the dimpling cheek with smiles enhance;
And Youth, in glory bursting from the sky,
With Beauty's rich, inimitable grace,
Throw her celestial roses o'er your face.
On your imagination pictured fair,
Shall rise, bedeck'd with joy-reviving rays,
And from your bosom chase the monster Care.
Then Happiness, with powerful arm,
Shall wrest his poignard from Disease,
And from the features that were born to please,
Scatter, of felon Sickness, far the fallow charm:
Again shall bid health sparkle from your eye;
In every step bid laughing pleasure dance;
Young Love the dimpling cheek with smiles enhance;
And Youth, in glory bursting from the sky,
With Beauty's rich, inimitable grace,
Throw her celestial roses o'er your face.
ELLA.
| [Poems by Smith in] The Echo | |