 | Verses of a life time |  |
152
TRENTON FALLS, NEW-YORK.
My God,
I thank thee for this wondrous birth of joy,
Unfelt and unimagined till this hour!
I thank thee for this wondrous birth of joy,
Unfelt and unimagined till this hour!
Was't not enough that thou didst tinge the rose
With delicate glow,—throw silvery whiteness o'er
The lily's cup—touch the bright sea-shell, like
A spirit's blush, and weave a whisper through
Its spiral folds, like murmuring love-notes soft,—
Arch the rich rainbow into mingled hues,
More beautiful in contrast with heaven's blue,
O'er western skies throw tints of gracious light,—
Smooth down the river with a mirror's truth,
And wrap around the fresh and teeming earth
Its lovely drapery of chastened green?
Was't not enough for me, that from my youth
Mine eyes have bathed in beauty, banquetted
On lovely sights, and listened to sweet sounds?
With delicate glow,—throw silvery whiteness o'er
The lily's cup—touch the bright sea-shell, like
A spirit's blush, and weave a whisper through
Its spiral folds, like murmuring love-notes soft,—
Arch the rich rainbow into mingled hues,
More beautiful in contrast with heaven's blue,
O'er western skies throw tints of gracious light,—
Smooth down the river with a mirror's truth,
And wrap around the fresh and teeming earth
Its lovely drapery of chastened green?
Was't not enough for me, that from my youth
Mine eyes have bathed in beauty, banquetted
On lovely sights, and listened to sweet sounds?
153
Grateful was I for this; but now I feel
The beauty of the awful and sublime;
My soul leaps upward to these towering cliffs,
And onward with the stream!
Father of nature,
Enlarge my spirit for this mighty gift!
When I consorted with the buds and flowers,
Heard the full choir of woodland melody,
Gazed up in reverie, on placid skies,
Or wandered by the pure meandering stream,
Or prayed beneath the bright-eyed lights of heaven,
Looking serene from out their azure home,
Or blest the moonlight, as it burst in joy,
Like youthful thoughts, enkindling hill and dale,
I felt as if a mother's gentle voice
Called on her child to acts of grateful love.
But now that I have communed with the vast,
Seen the veil rent from nature's stormy shrine,
Heard her wild lessons of magnificence
In cataract voices, mid the echoing rocks,
I feel a louder call upon my soul—
A trumpet-sound;—and as a soldier girds
Himself for war, so will I gird my thoughts
For conquest o'er the world!
The beauty of the awful and sublime;
My soul leaps upward to these towering cliffs,
And onward with the stream!
Father of nature,
Enlarge my spirit for this mighty gift!
When I consorted with the buds and flowers,
Heard the full choir of woodland melody,
Gazed up in reverie, on placid skies,
Or wandered by the pure meandering stream,
Or prayed beneath the bright-eyed lights of heaven,
Looking serene from out their azure home,
Or blest the moonlight, as it burst in joy,
Like youthful thoughts, enkindling hill and dale,
I felt as if a mother's gentle voice
Called on her child to acts of grateful love.
But now that I have communed with the vast,
Seen the veil rent from nature's stormy shrine,
Heard her wild lessons of magnificence
In cataract voices, mid the echoing rocks,
I feel a louder call upon my soul—
A trumpet-sound;—and as a soldier girds
Himself for war, so will I gird my thoughts
For conquest o'er the world!
1836.
| Verses of a life time | |