The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

Calm as the beauty upon childhood's brow
On whose fair arch young tenderness is throned,
The Lake reposes; not a ripple mars
Its cloud-reflecting face; where hues of heaven
In soft variety of liquid smiles
Float o'er the water, in successive play
Of light and motion, exquisitely wild.
Oh! Nature, art thou not a spirit now,
While the rich poetry of silence reigns
Heard by the soul, which feels almost unearth'd
And girded round by inspiration's spell?

Pale Martyr of the feverish thought and care!
Sad Victim of a spirit-crushing world!
And Thou, who, dungeon'd in the gloom of self,
To thine imprison'd view art dwarfing down

598

All grand conceptions, all august desires,
Hither! and while the dreaming water basks
Beneath the play of noon's attemper'd smile,
Lull'd in a trance of thought, the Lake admire.

Above, the curved immensity of heaven
Attracts thee, making eye and heart ascend
To wander in those palaces of cloud,
Or fairy-chambers, by the sunbeams paved.
And ye! vast Hills, that in your towering pomp
Touch the bow'd sky, and belt the horizon round
With guardian might, how lofty and alone,
In stern supremacy of height and shape
Ye stand! And, gazing on your giant-forms,
The charm'd beholder grows exalted too,
Till wing'd emotions waft the mind aloft
And, mountain-like, from earth to heaven he soars!
But, hark! in gushes of unwearied song
From yon green isle the hidden birds outpour
Their ecstasy of voice; and round them flows
An atmosphere of melody and praise;
While here and there, some fairy insect-form
Floats on the air, and fans its playful wing;
Or butterflies, like soaring gems, abound,
And scatter forth their gleams of dazzling joy!

But, see! where Oteley with its terraced pomp
And sun-bright aspect through the foliage smiles
Imposingly serene; Oh! long around
That Home of hospitality and peace
May all the social graces throng and bloom!
And you, that gently on the lake encroach
Or round the shore a verdant twilight cast,
Majestic Trees! by summer-grace bedeck'd,
How lovingly your green array invites
The pausing Eye, while many-coloured leaves
Flash in the sun with fascinating hue.

And list, in undulating cadence rolls
The peal of bells from yonder gothic Shrine
Most venerably grey, as broad and dim
Through the bright air its dusky tower ascends;
While soft vibrations of the sacred chime
Ebb on the breeze;—and tenderly, of days
Now sepulchred in memory's tomb, they speak,
Till the fine chords of quick reflection thrill
And waken to the tones. That fane beneath
The dust of immemorial thousands sleeps,
Who once along the churchyard's haunted ground
Did ramble oft, and hear with soul unmoved
The very hymn that like a funeral dirge
The passing hour bemoans; or saw, perchance,
The sunbeams gambolling round their destined grave!

But now, mild eve advances, and the Lake
More winning tenderness of hue and sound
Begins to gather: beautiful delight
Art Thou, fair Scene of water! in thy calm,
As thus reclining; yet in sterner mood
There are who love thine eloquent harangue
Of tempest-voices, when the black-wing'd Storms
Revel above thee; and in sea-like rage
Thy tossing billows whiten, heave, and roar
Beneath the glances of uncertain light,
That downward in their arrowy fleetness dart
From the torn clouds, which let the sun-flash through.

Adieu, loved scene of meditative joy;
Yet, oh! how lingeringly the eye retires
From beauty fresh as thine! The world forgot,
And all its crowd of pale-faced cares repell'd,
In heavenliness of thought my heart has roam'd
Beside thy magic, drinking in awhile
The balm and freshness of a better world;
While Nature on the throne of feeling sits,
And reigns, accorded queen of heart and soul!

Farewell! to outward gaze a long farewell,
Perchance, for ever: yet the dreaming eye
Of Fancy, when the landscapes of the soul
Are imaged, often o'er thy charms will bend;
And pure sensations into life will flow
Of loveliness and verdure; while the tones
Of rippling water throb on Memory's ear,
Like those that warble round thy grassy shore.

Oh! that the heart of man would more and more
Hold converse with the Beautiful and Bright,
And hear those oracles of truth and love
Which come from Nature's everlasting shrine
To all who seek Her, and with filial awe
Her sanctities admire. And who can tell
How often, while along yon wheel-track'd road
The hard-eyed worldling in some dream of Self
Hath hurried, thou didst breathe a moment's balm
On that dry wilderness,—an earthly heart!
And thus, amid the blank of common things
Thou seemest, in the contrast of thy charm,
A page of sentiment by Nature spread
In the coarse volume of man's daily Life,
The eye to soothe,—or satisfy the heart
Which hungers for imagination's feast!

599

But lo! upon the placid brow of Eve
A star of glory like a gem is set,
And round the air a dreaming quiet broods;
While tree and lake in glimmering beauty lie,
And the rich shadows of a summer's night
Begin to deepen; once again, farewell
Thou ancient Water!—centuries o'er thy face
Have fleeted, and unnumber'd millions sunk
Back into breathless clay, but Thou, unworn,
Unwrinkled, and unchanged, art still preserved
In youthful glory: thus, while men decay
And generations toil, and weep, and die,
Some other bard in moralising dream
Will muse, perchance, along thy lovely shore,
And learn how nature, when the soul responds
To fine appeals, can into song awake
The music of the heart's mysterious lyre.

Ellesmere, June 14th, 1836.