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EXTRACTS FROM A MANUSCRIPT POEM ON THE ELEMENTS.
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FIRE. LIGHT—THE SUN.
[OMITTED]
Earth! rejoice!
Lo! from the Orient, led by yon lone star,
Bright harbinger of day, exultant Morn
Comes forth, and waves her roseate wings, and spreads
Their light upon the mountains. Upward spring
From darkness, and the solitude of night,
The green woods, and blue main, and golden sky,
Radiant as new created: each high hill
Smokes, and the mountains purpled by the beam,
Waft, as from censers streaming wide, wreath'd clouds,
That melt in brightness, as the sun, on course,
Pours down prolific fires.
Lo! from the Orient, led by yon lone star,
Bright harbinger of day, exultant Morn
Comes forth, and waves her roseate wings, and spreads
Their light upon the mountains. Upward spring
From darkness, and the solitude of night,
The green woods, and blue main, and golden sky,
Radiant as new created: each high hill
Smokes, and the mountains purpled by the beam,
Waft, as from censers streaming wide, wreath'd clouds,
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Pours down prolific fires.
Oh, Earth! shout forth
Thy gladness! ye rejoice! each in its realm,
All creatures of all kind! On loftiest Alp,
The eagle in his aery! Ye, below,
Sweet-voic'd, that charm the woodlands; or, far off
On cliffs, where never spring put forth a leaf,
Haunt the bleak rock, or mingling with the tide
Harsh notes, upon the billow, as it rolls,
Find resting.—Race untam'd! whose fleet foot prints
Its speed in sandy wastes: and ye, who make
Your lair the tangled brake, by rush of flood
Couchant on watch; and thou, whose roaring quest
Troubles the silent midnight:—Herds! that browse,
Fearful, the branch in forest glades! and ye,
In mead, or upland, that recumbent crop
In peace Spring's purple flow'ret! ye, on earth
Which creep, and ye, gay swarms on glittering wing,
That float along the noon-beam! and thou, last,
Scarce less than angel! thou, divinely crown'd
With glory, Man, o'er all below supreme,
In image of thy Maker, bearing rule,
Lift up the hymn of gratulation!—
Thy gladness! ye rejoice! each in its realm,
All creatures of all kind! On loftiest Alp,
The eagle in his aery! Ye, below,
Sweet-voic'd, that charm the woodlands; or, far off
On cliffs, where never spring put forth a leaf,
Haunt the bleak rock, or mingling with the tide
Harsh notes, upon the billow, as it rolls,
Find resting.—Race untam'd! whose fleet foot prints
Its speed in sandy wastes: and ye, who make
Your lair the tangled brake, by rush of flood
Couchant on watch; and thou, whose roaring quest
Troubles the silent midnight:—Herds! that browse,
Fearful, the branch in forest glades! and ye,
In mead, or upland, that recumbent crop
In peace Spring's purple flow'ret! ye, on earth
Which creep, and ye, gay swarms on glittering wing,
That float along the noon-beam! and thou, last,
Scarce less than angel! thou, divinely crown'd
With glory, Man, o'er all below supreme,
In image of thy Maker, bearing rule,
Lift up the hymn of gratulation!—
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“Hail,
“Creator! day by day, th' illumin'd world
“Drinks of yon orb existence: each green herb
“Lifts to the light its strength: each flexile shoot
“Bends sunward: and its living lustre gives
“Rich odours to each fragrant plant, and paints
“All nature: hill and dale, and flow'ry mead,
“Each bud that gems the spring, each leaf that gilds
“Th' autumnal wood. Above, heav'n's glist'ning arch
“Beams back its rays: below, the diamond drinks
“Its brightness: and the many-colour'd hues
“Harmonious, gliding down the glossy neck
“Of the eye-spangled bird; or what breaks off
“In sparkles from the rippling brook, or blaze
“Of summer ocean: and, beneath its beam,
“The vital spirit of creation, spreads
“And kindles into birth; and all around
“'Tis redolence, 'tis beauty, youth, and joy.”
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Nor less thy genial effluence, Orb of Day,
“Creator! day by day, th' illumin'd world
“Drinks of yon orb existence: each green herb
“Lifts to the light its strength: each flexile shoot
“Bends sunward: and its living lustre gives
“Rich odours to each fragrant plant, and paints
“All nature: hill and dale, and flow'ry mead,
“Each bud that gems the spring, each leaf that gilds
“Th' autumnal wood. Above, heav'n's glist'ning arch
“Beams back its rays: below, the diamond drinks
“Its brightness: and the many-colour'd hues
“Harmonious, gliding down the glossy neck
“Of the eye-spangled bird; or what breaks off
“In sparkles from the rippling brook, or blaze
“Of summer ocean: and, beneath its beam,
“The vital spirit of creation, spreads
“And kindles into birth; and all around
“'Tis redolence, 'tis beauty, youth, and joy.”
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Makes pure the tainted ether.—Thou, oh, Sun!
Pour'st from thy fount the golden flood, and fill'st
With life and light th' aërial dome, whose arch
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In motion, thro' the world of waters, heave
Beneath thy amplitude. And lo! forthwith
From every river, fount, and fuming lake,
And billows of the multitudinous deep,
Pure airs, exhaustless, on gray mist and cloud
Float, and in surge ethereal meet the morn
Upborne. And lo! on earth, each grassy blade,
Mantle of nature, and each herb and flow'r,
Shrub, and thick grove, and woodland wilderness,
All that beneath the shroud of darkness, pour'd
Ungenial airs, with balmy breath salute
The day; and to the sunbeam render up
The spirit of delight, and health, and life,
In quivering undulations.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Go, then, oh Man! and tame the ground: thy doom:
Forgetful not, that o'er thy toil, yon orb
Holds ceaseless charge. For thee the Sun leads on
The Seasons: each, in grateful change, ordain'd
For kindest ministration. Winter cleaves
The congregated clouds, and downward pours
Large floods beneficent: or, spreading wide
O'er the bleak North his snowy mantle, views
The fresh blade sprout beneath, and fruits, whereon
The wand'ring rein-deer browses. Spring, for thee
Comes jubilant: the free rill flows, and flow'rs
Wake at her carol: and her playful train
Young Zephyrus, and May, that trips in dew,
On the green thorn fair garlands hang, and paint
Each purple bud, robing in gay attire
The promise of the year: the air mean-while
Wafts fragrance, and from bush and bow'r the bird
Trills ceaseless melody, and all that live
In very life have joyance. Next, beneath
Blue heav'n, her bright cheek flush'd with fervent noon,
Proud Summer o'er the bristling champain spreads
Its golden garniture; and where the bud
Fresh bloom'd, with mellowing sun-beams swells the fruit
Luxuriant. Lastly, gathering up the year
With shout, and song, and rustic revelry,
Autumn his brow with nodding wheat-sheaf wreathes,
Whence the full seed-grain falls: nor song, nor shouts
Cease, while his foot, crushing the vintage, drains
Its purple flood.—Go, then, and tame the ground,
Thy sentence.
Forgetful not, that o'er thy toil, yon orb
Holds ceaseless charge. For thee the Sun leads on
The Seasons: each, in grateful change, ordain'd
For kindest ministration. Winter cleaves
The congregated clouds, and downward pours
Large floods beneficent: or, spreading wide
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The fresh blade sprout beneath, and fruits, whereon
The wand'ring rein-deer browses. Spring, for thee
Comes jubilant: the free rill flows, and flow'rs
Wake at her carol: and her playful train
Young Zephyrus, and May, that trips in dew,
On the green thorn fair garlands hang, and paint
Each purple bud, robing in gay attire
The promise of the year: the air mean-while
Wafts fragrance, and from bush and bow'r the bird
Trills ceaseless melody, and all that live
In very life have joyance. Next, beneath
Blue heav'n, her bright cheek flush'd with fervent noon,
Proud Summer o'er the bristling champain spreads
Its golden garniture; and where the bud
Fresh bloom'd, with mellowing sun-beams swells the fruit
Luxuriant. Lastly, gathering up the year
With shout, and song, and rustic revelry,
Autumn his brow with nodding wheat-sheaf wreathes,
Whence the full seed-grain falls: nor song, nor shouts
Cease, while his foot, crushing the vintage, drains
Its purple flood.—Go, then, and tame the ground,
Thy sentence.
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Thus they went, whose foot first trod
This earth: how chang'd of that, which Love divine
Adorn'd, when Wisdom hallow'd its own work!
Sin enter'd, and despoil'd the bow'rs of bliss:
Death triumph'd, and the gates on Eden clos'd
For ever.—Ah, I see them, as they pass
In speechless anguish: him, the Sire of Man,
And Eve, our general Mother. Slow they bend
From Paradise, nor cast one look behind,
Lest worse befall:—if worse!—for under foot,
Fit entrance to the vale of tears, rank thorns
Shot, intermingled, and th' unfruitful growth
Of thistles bristling upward. Over head
Thick clouds and darkness: and the tempest low'r'd,
And the rain beat, and floods were heard to rush
Terrific. Oh for them, who ne'er had seen
Cloud other, than the veil, through which the Sun
Gleam'd soften'd, or gray Twilight, bringing on
Cool shadowy rest: and never had they felt
Show'r, save the mist, which duly from the earth
Went up, and water'd all: nor ruder sound
Heard, than the flow of fountain, or light play
Of leaf, whose murmur lull'd them to repose
Within their nuptial arbor. Oh, for them!
So, on they went: he first, to smooth a path
For Eve, who faintly follow'd. And the day
Was drawing to its close, and sore fatigue
Came, company'd by famine. Then, our Sire
Felt the dire burden of his crime: and loud
His groan burst forth: not thus meek Eve; no sigh,
No murmur spake her anguish, as, o'ercome,
She sank on Adam's breast.—View them, sole Pair,
The husband wipes away the drops of death
That stand on her chill brow. And lo! the clouds
Disparting, and the mists in gather'd wreaths
Bear their dark burden off. The rain is ceas'd,
The wind is lull'd, and full the sun-beam falls
On Eve, beneath whose genial warmth her pulse
Leaps jocund, and the rose relumes her cheek:
Not vainly: for, before them, in near view,
Fair-opening amid fence of mountains, bloom'd
A garden wilderness: a beauteous spot
Selected.—Far around the wild waste low'r'd.—
A little spot, which he who in his wrath
Remembers mercy, had afore prepar'd
Their dwelling. Then fair Hope reviv'd, when first
On this, their exile seat, the Sun, unveil'd,
Shone out; and earth, a second Eden, bloom'd
Beneath them:—Adam, then, stedfast of faith,
Mus'd on the promis'd seed, in awful trance
Prophetic. But thou, Eve, with sprightlier sense
Of pleasure:—“Here, too, Peace resides: here, too,
“Heav'n opes its arch of azure, and these woods
“Wave verdure. Here, on blooming sprays, gay birds
“Greet us with welcome song, and trick in the beam
“Their painted plumes. And lo! fair flocks and herds,
“From underneath thick shades, that fenc'd the storm,
“Move harmless, pasturing the green blade, their young
“Frisking around. Hail, too, ye fruits! whereon
“The golden sun looks ripening. Hail, gay flow'rs,
“That, shaking off the dew, rise on your stalks
“Exultant! Thou, too, dwell'st in this thy world,
“Father of Mercy!”—
This earth: how chang'd of that, which Love divine
Adorn'd, when Wisdom hallow'd its own work!
Sin enter'd, and despoil'd the bow'rs of bliss:
Death triumph'd, and the gates on Eden clos'd
For ever.—Ah, I see them, as they pass
In speechless anguish: him, the Sire of Man,
And Eve, our general Mother. Slow they bend
From Paradise, nor cast one look behind,
Lest worse befall:—if worse!—for under foot,
Fit entrance to the vale of tears, rank thorns
Shot, intermingled, and th' unfruitful growth
Of thistles bristling upward. Over head
Thick clouds and darkness: and the tempest low'r'd,
And the rain beat, and floods were heard to rush
Terrific. Oh for them, who ne'er had seen
Cloud other, than the veil, through which the Sun
Gleam'd soften'd, or gray Twilight, bringing on
Cool shadowy rest: and never had they felt
Show'r, save the mist, which duly from the earth
Went up, and water'd all: nor ruder sound
Heard, than the flow of fountain, or light play
Of leaf, whose murmur lull'd them to repose
Within their nuptial arbor. Oh, for them!
So, on they went: he first, to smooth a path
For Eve, who faintly follow'd. And the day
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Came, company'd by famine. Then, our Sire
Felt the dire burden of his crime: and loud
His groan burst forth: not thus meek Eve; no sigh,
No murmur spake her anguish, as, o'ercome,
She sank on Adam's breast.—View them, sole Pair,
The husband wipes away the drops of death
That stand on her chill brow. And lo! the clouds
Disparting, and the mists in gather'd wreaths
Bear their dark burden off. The rain is ceas'd,
The wind is lull'd, and full the sun-beam falls
On Eve, beneath whose genial warmth her pulse
Leaps jocund, and the rose relumes her cheek:
Not vainly: for, before them, in near view,
Fair-opening amid fence of mountains, bloom'd
A garden wilderness: a beauteous spot
Selected.—Far around the wild waste low'r'd.—
A little spot, which he who in his wrath
Remembers mercy, had afore prepar'd
Their dwelling. Then fair Hope reviv'd, when first
On this, their exile seat, the Sun, unveil'd,
Shone out; and earth, a second Eden, bloom'd
Beneath them:—Adam, then, stedfast of faith,
Mus'd on the promis'd seed, in awful trance
Prophetic. But thou, Eve, with sprightlier sense
258
“Heav'n opes its arch of azure, and these woods
“Wave verdure. Here, on blooming sprays, gay birds
“Greet us with welcome song, and trick in the beam
“Their painted plumes. And lo! fair flocks and herds,
“From underneath thick shades, that fenc'd the storm,
“Move harmless, pasturing the green blade, their young
“Frisking around. Hail, too, ye fruits! whereon
“The golden sun looks ripening. Hail, gay flow'rs,
“That, shaking off the dew, rise on your stalks
“Exultant! Thou, too, dwell'st in this thy world,
“Father of Mercy!”—
And, when now the sun
With ampler orb hung on the mountain heights,
And now, ere set, wheel'd slowly thro' the pomp
That grac'd its going down, rich retinue
Of clouds accompaning, whose canopy
Emblazon'd the broad firmament above,
With gold, with purple, and with roseate gleams
Gorgeously rob'd: “Scarce glorious more (she cried)
“Thy lustre: scarce more beauteous Eden bow'rs
“Glisten'd beneath the majesty of heav'n
“Descending, when on wing the Seraphim
“And Cherubs came attendant, as God deign'd
“To walk on earth with Adam.” So the day
Clos'd, and their voice went grateful up to heav'n.
With ampler orb hung on the mountain heights,
And now, ere set, wheel'd slowly thro' the pomp
That grac'd its going down, rich retinue
Of clouds accompaning, whose canopy
Emblazon'd the broad firmament above,
With gold, with purple, and with roseate gleams
Gorgeously rob'd: “Scarce glorious more (she cried)
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“Glisten'd beneath the majesty of heav'n
“Descending, when on wing the Seraphim
“And Cherubs came attendant, as God deign'd
“To walk on earth with Adam.” So the day
Clos'd, and their voice went grateful up to heav'n.
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FIRE.
Caloric—Fire—the great instrument of civilisation, and of Man's supremacy over inanimate and animated Nature.—The origin and progress of the Arts.
Thus far of Light first-form'd, and thy pure beam,
Regent of Day!—To other pow'rs I turn
My numbers: thine, fix'd Element of Heat!
In ministration of unbounded sway,
Servant of heav'n. Dost thou not, Spirit unseen!
Lift up th' aërial canopy, and hold
Apart each atom in the boundless bed
Of ocean, leaving free the billowy flood,
To wind its mutability of wave
In ceaseless flow? Thro' earth's wide realms thou dwell'st
Subservient: else thy rage had burst the chain
Wherewith the omnipotent arm binds down thy strength
Resistless. Oh, how oft, as one on watch,
In ambush, from still bondage, under earth,
Some cave, on whose unpillar'd emptiness
The city fix'd its greatness, thou hast heard
The voice of vengeance, and array'd in flame,
Like an exterminating angel, swept,
Wasting the wide Creation!—And thou cam'st
With uproar, and fierce onset, winds and waves
Contending. Ask of them, the delug'd race
Swept off at lost Messina. On their brow
The sun, at morn, shone beauteous, and long life
Danc'd in their day-dreams—ask of those, whose bones
'Mid fanes, and marble palaces, in dust,
Moulder, a nameless heap, unsepulchred,
Still wept of Lisbon.—Ah! not yet has ceas'd
Their deep lament, who, when the faithless ground
Toss'd, like the billowy main, rock'd on the edge
Of yon precipitous chasm, and, wild with fear,
Fled at the death-cry, heard beneath, when earth
Clave, and clos'd o'er the nation.—There, yet roams
The maniac, and, with age and woe bow'd down,
Duly, the year gone by, casts on that heap
Her silver hair, and in strange murmurs wild,
Calls on her perish'd babe, and greets her lord:
All hopeless, as her cry comes echo'd back,
Sole response. And anon, the fix'd mount seems
To heave and roll beneath her, and pale shapes,
Deform'd, float ghastly round.
Regent of Day!—To other pow'rs I turn
My numbers: thine, fix'd Element of Heat!
In ministration of unbounded sway,
Servant of heav'n. Dost thou not, Spirit unseen!
Lift up th' aërial canopy, and hold
Apart each atom in the boundless bed
Of ocean, leaving free the billowy flood,
To wind its mutability of wave
In ceaseless flow? Thro' earth's wide realms thou dwell'st
Subservient: else thy rage had burst the chain
Wherewith the omnipotent arm binds down thy strength
Resistless. Oh, how oft, as one on watch,
In ambush, from still bondage, under earth,
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The city fix'd its greatness, thou hast heard
The voice of vengeance, and array'd in flame,
Like an exterminating angel, swept,
Wasting the wide Creation!—And thou cam'st
With uproar, and fierce onset, winds and waves
Contending. Ask of them, the delug'd race
Swept off at lost Messina. On their brow
The sun, at morn, shone beauteous, and long life
Danc'd in their day-dreams—ask of those, whose bones
'Mid fanes, and marble palaces, in dust,
Moulder, a nameless heap, unsepulchred,
Still wept of Lisbon.—Ah! not yet has ceas'd
Their deep lament, who, when the faithless ground
Toss'd, like the billowy main, rock'd on the edge
Of yon precipitous chasm, and, wild with fear,
Fled at the death-cry, heard beneath, when earth
Clave, and clos'd o'er the nation.—There, yet roams
The maniac, and, with age and woe bow'd down,
Duly, the year gone by, casts on that heap
Her silver hair, and in strange murmurs wild,
Calls on her perish'd babe, and greets her lord:
All hopeless, as her cry comes echo'd back,
Sole response. And anon, the fix'd mount seems
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Deform'd, float ghastly round.
Oh, ye! who muse
Where tow'r and temple fell; and they, the race,
Sunk as one man, recall to mind that voice
Which spake of those at Siloim!—All have sinn'd:
Yea, and this earth must bear the chastisement,
Fore-doom'd for man's offence. Ah beauteous world!
Ye, high hills, and wide forests! ye, proud rocks!
That bear the burden up; streams, and still lakes
So passing fair; ye all, and yon vast Deep,
Shall, like a scroll before the furnace heat,
Smoke, and no more be seen: and thou, oh, Flame!
Borne on the tempest's thundering pennons, pass
Lone o'er Creation's void.—Till then, repose,
And fill thy gentler office, and sustain
All nature! Ne'er be seen in upper air
Lights, fiercer than the gleams that paint the clouds
At morn, or eve: or those, that round the Pole,
Changeful of hue, immix in aery dance,
Not without voice of lambent flame, and now
Cease, fanciful: or sport upon the wing
Of summer lightnings, that elicit down
Kind drops, and fill the lap of earth with flow'rs.
Where tow'r and temple fell; and they, the race,
Sunk as one man, recall to mind that voice
Which spake of those at Siloim!—All have sinn'd:
Yea, and this earth must bear the chastisement,
Fore-doom'd for man's offence. Ah beauteous world!
Ye, high hills, and wide forests! ye, proud rocks!
That bear the burden up; streams, and still lakes
So passing fair; ye all, and yon vast Deep,
Shall, like a scroll before the furnace heat,
Smoke, and no more be seen: and thou, oh, Flame!
Borne on the tempest's thundering pennons, pass
Lone o'er Creation's void.—Till then, repose,
And fill thy gentler office, and sustain
All nature! Ne'er be seen in upper air
Lights, fiercer than the gleams that paint the clouds
At morn, or eve: or those, that round the Pole,
Changeful of hue, immix in aery dance,
Not without voice of lambent flame, and now
Cease, fanciful: or sport upon the wing
Of summer lightnings, that elicit down
Kind drops, and fill the lap of earth with flow'rs.
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Play ye in painted clouds! far other fire
Rests ministrant on earth. Came not the flame
From heav'n? and mark'd th' acceptance of his God,
What time, himself the criminal, Man bow'd
His forehead to the dust, and wet with tears
The ground, repentant, when his falt'ring hand
First smote the blameless sacrifice, and laid
On th' unhewn stone. So will'd the voice divine,
In token of offence, and death deserv'd,
His doom forewarn'd: nor less, mysterious type
Of thee, oh, Son of God! whose offer'd blood
Flow'd, price of our redemption. Thus, the flame
Came down; and Man went forth, not without God,
To tame and till the earth.
Rests ministrant on earth. Came not the flame
From heav'n? and mark'd th' acceptance of his God,
What time, himself the criminal, Man bow'd
His forehead to the dust, and wet with tears
The ground, repentant, when his falt'ring hand
First smote the blameless sacrifice, and laid
On th' unhewn stone. So will'd the voice divine,
In token of offence, and death deserv'd,
His doom forewarn'd: nor less, mysterious type
Of thee, oh, Son of God! whose offer'd blood
Flow'd, price of our redemption. Thus, the flame
Came down; and Man went forth, not without God,
To tame and till the earth.
Hence, various arts:
Whate'er (so Fables sing) Prometheus first
Taught rude mankind, when, guest of highest Jove,
The dauntless Titan from the sun purloin'd
Forbidden flames, and earth's dark race illum'd.
Whate'er (so Fables sing) Prometheus first
Taught rude mankind, when, guest of highest Jove,
The dauntless Titan from the sun purloin'd
Forbidden flames, and earth's dark race illum'd.
Far otherwise my song, that tracts his course,
The bold adventurer, from life's cultur'd realms,
Who, bent on far discoveries, steers his bark
'Mid untried oceans. Such, as oft thy prow,
From pole to pole lone traversing the globe,
Explor'd: heroic Chief!
Whose memory, and last remains, rever'd
As one scarce mortal, consecrate the isle
Where thy long course of toil and glory clos'd;
And ruthless men, whose weapons drank thy blood,
Wept, as they knelt around thy hallow'd corse,
Proud Albion's boast, brave Cook!
The bold adventurer, from life's cultur'd realms,
Who, bent on far discoveries, steers his bark
'Mid untried oceans. Such, as oft thy prow,
From pole to pole lone traversing the globe,
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Whose memory, and last remains, rever'd
As one scarce mortal, consecrate the isle
Where thy long course of toil and glory clos'd;
And ruthless men, whose weapons drank thy blood,
Wept, as they knelt around thy hallow'd corse,
Proud Albion's boast, brave Cook!
So trace in thought
The voyager. His tempest-wearied sails
Rest, as the anchor bites an unknown coast.
His light skiff rides the surge, and forth he leaps,
Lone, on the rocky sea-beach. High in air
His torch, long beck'ning, flames: and lo! far off,
With faltering step, and wild eye turn'd askance,
One from the thick shade ventures, where he wont
With beasts to make his lair: or, couch'd beneath
Dark caverns, start at the tremendous roar
Of ocean, hurling its vex'd flood, by night,
Against the storm-rent promontory. Forth
He comes, a naked creature, comfortless;
His lip, and the dark tangles of his beard,
Stain'd with fresh blood, warm from the living prey
That battled long for mastery.—“Draw near!
“(The Stranger calls) break off the feast of blood.
“Satiate no more fell appetite, 'mid cries
“Of quivering agony! So feel, oh, Man!
“Thy nature, temper'd with celestial touch
“Of pity, and soft sense of woe not thine.”
He speaks: the wild man listens, and his heart
The voyager. His tempest-wearied sails
Rest, as the anchor bites an unknown coast.
His light skiff rides the surge, and forth he leaps,
Lone, on the rocky sea-beach. High in air
His torch, long beck'ning, flames: and lo! far off,
With faltering step, and wild eye turn'd askance,
One from the thick shade ventures, where he wont
With beasts to make his lair: or, couch'd beneath
Dark caverns, start at the tremendous roar
Of ocean, hurling its vex'd flood, by night,
Against the storm-rent promontory. Forth
He comes, a naked creature, comfortless;
His lip, and the dark tangles of his beard,
Stain'd with fresh blood, warm from the living prey
That battled long for mastery.—“Draw near!
“(The Stranger calls) break off the feast of blood.
“Satiate no more fell appetite, 'mid cries
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“Thy nature, temper'd with celestial touch
“Of pity, and soft sense of woe not thine.”
Thrills, opening to humanity.—Again
Th' Instructor speaks benign, as once the voice
That spake to our first sire: “Thou, sole on earth
“Sole kind endow'd with reason! thine alone
“This Element; the air, the earth, the flood,
“Free boon alike to all: thou, Lord of Fire!
“Go, sov'reign 'mid creation, and bear rule
“Resistless.—Each, within his realm, subdue,
“The beast and bird, and those that in their rage
“Tempest the deep.—But not for this alone,
“To lord it o'er the brute, hold under rule
“At will the fiery element. Look o'er
“Yon desert, the dark wilderness.”—Around
The savage stilly gazes. Dreary, all,
Wild as th' immense savannahs, whose dank waste
Struck horror on the hapless exile, doom'd
To tame the new-found world. Between the range
Of distant mountains, on whose summit slept
Th' eternal snows, a mighty champain spread
On all sides its low level. Giant woods
266
Of Winter, from their pride had shatter'd down
Th' exuberant growth, and Spring, as oft, renew'd,
Thro' untold generations. Lifeless lay
On earth's dank bed their cumbrous bulk, and stay'd
The floods, that labouring down their channels, work'd
Toilsome their way obscure, upheaving slow
The soil with all its roots: while bristling round
Its borders, proudly rose in perplex'd fence,
Impassable, rank thickets that immix'd
Thorns, and huge spikes, and canes whose rattling stems
Tow'r'd, each a warrior's lance: and all throughout,
In intertwining growth exuberant,
Glow'd clusters swoln with venom. In these shades
The wild beast litter'd, and sad birds there hung
Their nests, and thick along the ooze huge snakes
Trail'd on their folds voluminous, and 'mid these,
Fierce eagles gorging the fang'd prey, coil'd round
Their beak in battle. And the troubled air
Rung with thick swarms, that, borne on whizzing wing,
Stream'd up like exhalations into birth,
267
“Thy realm!—yon wild wood fire—subdue, and reign.”
The Savage waves the torch, and fires the wood:
It flames, it roars, and sinks, a silent waste;
And they that tenanted the wilderness,
Bird, and wild beast, and serpent fang'd with death,
Fly diverse: and the Man stands there, alone,
Stands in his strength.
It flames, it roars, and sinks, a silent waste;
And they that tenanted the wilderness,
Bird, and wild beast, and serpent fang'd with death,
Fly diverse: and the Man stands there, alone,
Stands in his strength.
“Now learn thy pow'r, pursue
“The triumph. Nature (hark! 'tis God commands)
“Claims of thy race due culture: all, save thine,
“All, reckless, on her bosom, whence they draw
“Their nurture, idly sleep. Thou, sole, deserve
“Her largess. Bid yon mound, that stays the flood,
“Give way, and the free current flow, as once,
“Prolific: call again the sunbeams down
“To look upon the soil, and flow'rs and fruit,
“All kind, shall spring luxuriant. Some, uproot,
“Some, kindly prune, others, their savage strength
“Tam'd gradual into mildness, make unite
“In spousal, and engender happiest race.
“Nor envy thou the animals! Along
“The champain let the courser, in his speed,
“Challenge the winds: the goat, yon mountains browse,
“Give the gay kid to spring from crag to crag,
“And balancing his posture, light as air,
“Dance on the pointed fore-cliff: give the flock,
“Whose silver fleece thy covering shall inweave,
“The summer upland, and the shelter'd vale
“When winter smites. And when the larger herd
“Wind, lowing, down thy pastures, mantled o'er
“With trefoil, and the purple bloom lure on
“To meadows freshly water'd; for they come,
“Peaceful, heav'n-destin'd, to submit their neck
“Of prowess to thy handling, and beneath
“An iron yoke, which way the stripling turns,
“Bow'd from the rising to the setting sun,
“To tame the earth. 'Tis vanquish'd: Plenty bursts
“The clod, and guardians of the golden grain,
“Fair Order, and right Governance arise.
“And hark! the populous hum, and cheerful strife
“Of industry, and voice of elders met
“In council.—Hail, Religion, and her rites.
“Hail, wedded Love, link'd by domestic ties
“Endearing, sire and child!—These, all, await
“Thy culture. Haste! the mighty mother calls,
“Who, not ungrateful, asks but to repay
“Ten thousand fold: nor negligent herself
“To fit thee for her ministry.”—He speaks,
And shows, where 'mid the ashes, as they smoke,
Flows from rich veins the all-subduing ore,
And fashions into use.
“The triumph. Nature (hark! 'tis God commands)
“Claims of thy race due culture: all, save thine,
“All, reckless, on her bosom, whence they draw
“Their nurture, idly sleep. Thou, sole, deserve
“Her largess. Bid yon mound, that stays the flood,
“Give way, and the free current flow, as once,
“Prolific: call again the sunbeams down
“To look upon the soil, and flow'rs and fruit,
“All kind, shall spring luxuriant. Some, uproot,
“Some, kindly prune, others, their savage strength
“Tam'd gradual into mildness, make unite
“In spousal, and engender happiest race.
“Nor envy thou the animals! Along
268
“Challenge the winds: the goat, yon mountains browse,
“Give the gay kid to spring from crag to crag,
“And balancing his posture, light as air,
“Dance on the pointed fore-cliff: give the flock,
“Whose silver fleece thy covering shall inweave,
“The summer upland, and the shelter'd vale
“When winter smites. And when the larger herd
“Wind, lowing, down thy pastures, mantled o'er
“With trefoil, and the purple bloom lure on
“To meadows freshly water'd; for they come,
“Peaceful, heav'n-destin'd, to submit their neck
“Of prowess to thy handling, and beneath
“An iron yoke, which way the stripling turns,
“Bow'd from the rising to the setting sun,
“To tame the earth. 'Tis vanquish'd: Plenty bursts
“The clod, and guardians of the golden grain,
“Fair Order, and right Governance arise.
“And hark! the populous hum, and cheerful strife
“Of industry, and voice of elders met
“In council.—Hail, Religion, and her rites.
“Hail, wedded Love, link'd by domestic ties
“Endearing, sire and child!—These, all, await
“Thy culture. Haste! the mighty mother calls,
269
“Ten thousand fold: nor negligent herself
“To fit thee for her ministry.”—He speaks,
And shows, where 'mid the ashes, as they smoke,
Flows from rich veins the all-subduing ore,
And fashions into use.
Thus, man to man,
Taught by their common sire, transmitted down
Heav'n's gracious gift, and cultur'd Arts arose
Successive.—Some, from earth, with hand uncouth,
Scoop'd the harsh clay, and from the fire brought forth
Unshapely vessels rude. The potter's wheel
Anon knew motion, nor found rest, till skill,
Wrought slowly out from want, the sense refin'd
Of pleasure, born of beauty: such as charm'd
The Tuscan, when th' attemper'd clay resign'd
Its patient flexibility of form
To the fine fingering of his taste: beneath
Whose touch Grace shap'd the vase, and round its orb,
Imag'd in mystic symbol, the fair form
Of Nature faint reclining: o'er whose brow
Pow'rs, Spirits of Creation, hung on wing
Descendent, and, with torch Promethean, rous'd
The slumberer into life: or shadowy shapes
Fantastic, of the volant pencil born:
That, lonely, or in groups, not without pipe
And timbrel, loosely cinctur'd, toss'd on high
The thyrsus, and their streaming locks wav'd back
In airy dance.
Taught by their common sire, transmitted down
Heav'n's gracious gift, and cultur'd Arts arose
Successive.—Some, from earth, with hand uncouth,
Scoop'd the harsh clay, and from the fire brought forth
Unshapely vessels rude. The potter's wheel
Anon knew motion, nor found rest, till skill,
Wrought slowly out from want, the sense refin'd
Of pleasure, born of beauty: such as charm'd
The Tuscan, when th' attemper'd clay resign'd
Its patient flexibility of form
To the fine fingering of his taste: beneath
Whose touch Grace shap'd the vase, and round its orb,
Imag'd in mystic symbol, the fair form
Of Nature faint reclining: o'er whose brow
Pow'rs, Spirits of Creation, hung on wing
Descendent, and, with torch Promethean, rous'd
270
Fantastic, of the volant pencil born:
That, lonely, or in groups, not without pipe
And timbrel, loosely cinctur'd, toss'd on high
The thyrsus, and their streaming locks wav'd back
In airy dance.
Some rais'd the tile-fenc'd roof
Impervious: and the stormy gust unfelt
Died off, and lulling, clos'd the slumberous eye.
So rose the sheltering roof: succeeding years
Saw taste, and proud embellishment: the porch
And portico, and dome that tow'r'd aloft
On pillar'd strength. The Doric column, first,
Like some gigantic cedar, tempest-shorn,
Awful in unadorn'd severity,
Rose baseless from earth's solid bed, and prop'd
The ponderous mass above.
Impervious: and the stormy gust unfelt
Died off, and lulling, clos'd the slumberous eye.
So rose the sheltering roof: succeeding years
Saw taste, and proud embellishment: the porch
And portico, and dome that tow'r'd aloft
On pillar'd strength. The Doric column, first,
Like some gigantic cedar, tempest-shorn,
Awful in unadorn'd severity,
Rose baseless from earth's solid bed, and prop'd
The ponderous mass above.
So—Hercules
Stood, when bow'd Atlas rested.
Stood, when bow'd Atlas rested.
Next, arose
Th' Ionian, with pure graces chastely adorn'd.
The Grecian matron, there, of stately port,
Gave to its polish'd shaft the female form,
And delicate proportions. Down the flutes
Of the long column fell in simple folds,
What seem'd her plaited stole: and from its brow
The ornamented capital diffus'd
What seem'd the ringlet that round either cheek
Wav'd, as the free breeze curl'd it.
Th' Ionian, with pure graces chastely adorn'd.
The Grecian matron, there, of stately port,
Gave to its polish'd shaft the female form,
271
Of the long column fell in simple folds,
What seem'd her plaited stole: and from its brow
The ornamented capital diffus'd
What seem'd the ringlet that round either cheek
Wav'd, as the free breeze curl'd it.
Last, the skill
Of Corinth, in its wanton wildness trac'd
Th' acanthus, as the graceful leaf o'erhung
The funeral urn, and round her chaptrel twin'd
Its gay luxuriance.—Thus th' embellish'd shaft
Shot tapering into air, and charm'd the sight,
Virginly shap'd, her likest, in life's prime
A bride by Love adorned. Nor wanted these
High architrave, or fretted frieze, emboss'd
With sculptur'd imag'ry: the pomp of games,
Triumphs, and Amazonian wars, and chase
Of beasts, or sport of Gods at Hebe feasts
With Saturn's race.
Of Corinth, in its wanton wildness trac'd
Th' acanthus, as the graceful leaf o'erhung
The funeral urn, and round her chaptrel twin'd
Its gay luxuriance.—Thus th' embellish'd shaft
Shot tapering into air, and charm'd the sight,
Virginly shap'd, her likest, in life's prime
A bride by Love adorned. Nor wanted these
High architrave, or fretted frieze, emboss'd
With sculptur'd imag'ry: the pomp of games,
Triumphs, and Amazonian wars, and chase
Of beasts, or sport of Gods at Hebe feasts
With Saturn's race.
Meantime the sound arose
Of men, who, labouring at huge anvils, tax'd
Their strength. Now swift the clattering hammers rung;
Now with slow swing, the sledge, blow after blow,
In measur'd chime fell regular. So these:
And ever as they drew the glowing mass
From forth the furnace, show'r of sparkles flew
Around. By dint of toil, these taught the share
To take its griding curve: those, pointing, shod
The ponderous harrow: some, more artful, edg'd
The biting axe, or tooth'd the serried saw.
Others, by patient touches, o'er and o'er,
Smooth'd temper'd steel, and polish'd for the loom
Tools o'er whose play Sidonian virgins rais'd
The song that lighten'd labour.
Of men, who, labouring at huge anvils, tax'd
Their strength. Now swift the clattering hammers rung;
Now with slow swing, the sledge, blow after blow,
272
And ever as they drew the glowing mass
From forth the furnace, show'r of sparkles flew
Around. By dint of toil, these taught the share
To take its griding curve: those, pointing, shod
The ponderous harrow: some, more artful, edg'd
The biting axe, or tooth'd the serried saw.
Others, by patient touches, o'er and o'er,
Smooth'd temper'd steel, and polish'd for the loom
Tools o'er whose play Sidonian virgins rais'd
The song that lighten'd labour.
Other part,
Men, in sad gloom, beneath embowell'd earth,
Slow min'd: regardless they, on toil intent,
Whether the sun, o'er misty mount, or lawn
Gemm'd with fresh dew, rose beauteous on mankind,
Or moon-beams lit the labourer to repose:
Regardless, while they arch'd the sparry roof,
And from deep veins the buried ore purloin'd,
That, heard above, the unrelenting roar
Of ocean, as the rocky fragments roll'd,
Burst from the world of waters o'er their brow.
To each his task. And some went forth, and brought
Men, in sad gloom, beneath embowell'd earth,
Slow min'd: regardless they, on toil intent,
Whether the sun, o'er misty mount, or lawn
Gemm'd with fresh dew, rose beauteous on mankind,
Or moon-beams lit the labourer to repose:
Regardless, while they arch'd the sparry roof,
And from deep veins the buried ore purloin'd,
That, heard above, the unrelenting roar
Of ocean, as the rocky fragments roll'd,
Burst from the world of waters o'er their brow.
273
And 'mid the furnace flung: and lo! a flood
Pellucid: this, ere yet its current cool'd,
Art fashion'd into shape: and interpos'd
Its crystal, calling in the beams of light,
And gladsome sunshine, while stern winter swept
Without, unheeded. Hence, 'mid realms unblest,
Where Tanais freezes as it flows, and earth,
Lies sepulchred in snow, Art, underneath
The lucid roof, gay flow'rs and fruits arrays,
Cull'd from each happier clime: and all their hues
Calls forth, and all their fragrance. There, methinks,
As in some central mart (such, Hormuz, once,
Now a lone rock) at yearly fair, the throng
Of traffickers, a princely train, from Nile,
Tagus and Thames, and isles of th' eastern main,
From Trebisond, and Teflis, over-land,
Meet, vying in their merchandise: so these
In flavour, bloom, and fragrance. There the grape
Of Schiraz, clust'ring into vintage, views
The mail'd Anana, and the golden groves
Of Lusitane.
Nor fragrant shrub there fails: with some, the Cape
Deck'd her gay wilds: some, boast of orient Ind:
The jasmine, and nyctanthus, whose rare bloom
This to the day gives fragrance, that, in turn,
To night its odour. Melianthus, there,
Bends gracefully; and as it looks on earth,
Drops dew of Hybla sweetness. Thou too, last,
Delight of tropic islands: rich thy leaf
Of glossy verdure, garlanded with pomp
Of blossoms, white as snow, that loosely float
In clusters, waving fragrance: cool thy walks
Thro' dark arcades, where never weed, nor plant
Entangles the free foot, nor from without
Pierces the noon-tide beam: but ah! thy charms
Are poison'd: for there wanders one, whose eye
Rests not on thy snow-blossoms, and whose heart
Fever'd with woe, in shade and cool retreat
Finds no allay: one, forc'd from Niger's flood.
Behold him, faint, at interval of toil
Climb up the mountain brow, thence, sea-ward, gaze
Which way his country lies, and beat his breast
In anguish, as th' interminable waves
Roll, sund'ring him for ever from his home.
Once, once thou hadst a home, endear'd by those
Whose age found rest on thee: endear'd by those
Who, smiling, nam'd thee “Father:” doubly endear'd
By her, who bore, and at her bosom fed
Each proof and pledge of love—Heav'n still thy groan!
But woe to him who, fettering the free,
Trafficks in blood! Crush, Albion! 'neath thy foot,
Crush its last link!—
Deck'd her gay wilds: some, boast of orient Ind:
The jasmine, and nyctanthus, whose rare bloom
274
To night its odour. Melianthus, there,
Bends gracefully; and as it looks on earth,
Drops dew of Hybla sweetness. Thou too, last,
Delight of tropic islands: rich thy leaf
Of glossy verdure, garlanded with pomp
Of blossoms, white as snow, that loosely float
In clusters, waving fragrance: cool thy walks
Thro' dark arcades, where never weed, nor plant
Entangles the free foot, nor from without
Pierces the noon-tide beam: but ah! thy charms
Are poison'd: for there wanders one, whose eye
Rests not on thy snow-blossoms, and whose heart
Fever'd with woe, in shade and cool retreat
Finds no allay: one, forc'd from Niger's flood.
Behold him, faint, at interval of toil
Climb up the mountain brow, thence, sea-ward, gaze
Which way his country lies, and beat his breast
In anguish, as th' interminable waves
Roll, sund'ring him for ever from his home.
Once, once thou hadst a home, endear'd by those
Whose age found rest on thee: endear'd by those
Who, smiling, nam'd thee “Father:” doubly endear'd
By her, who bore, and at her bosom fed
Each proof and pledge of love—Heav'n still thy groan!
275
Trafficks in blood! Crush, Albion! 'neath thy foot,
Crush its last link!—
Some of the molten mass
Fram'd instruments, whose subtle pow'r disclos'd
God in his works. Forms long familiar, rose
All wond'rous: and the Air, and Earth, and Main,
Show'd like new worlds, where swarming myriads know
Joy in their generation. These detect
The many-vision'd orbs, that serve the wants
Of reptile, or wing'd life, outnumb'ring those
That held dire watch o'er Io: or, behold
Where, thro' a thousand mouths, the green leaf drinks
Th' aerial spirit; whence the unfolding rose
Draws from the sun its hue; and how, ere ceas'd
The harvest shout, another golden year
Teems, where the great Creator, provident,
Garners the infant Autumn in the grain,
And decks with branch and leaf the tree, in bud,
Yet patient of a cradle.
Fram'd instruments, whose subtle pow'r disclos'd
God in his works. Forms long familiar, rose
All wond'rous: and the Air, and Earth, and Main,
Show'd like new worlds, where swarming myriads know
Joy in their generation. These detect
The many-vision'd orbs, that serve the wants
Of reptile, or wing'd life, outnumb'ring those
That held dire watch o'er Io: or, behold
Where, thro' a thousand mouths, the green leaf drinks
Th' aerial spirit; whence the unfolding rose
Draws from the sun its hue; and how, ere ceas'd
The harvest shout, another golden year
Teems, where the great Creator, provident,
Garners the infant Autumn in the grain,
And decks with branch and leaf the tree, in bud,
Yet patient of a cradle.
While these trace
A God on earth, others behold the heav'ns
Rob'd in his brightness. The ethereal zones
Stretch back their ancient boundary; and beyond,
Realms, whose far gleams from multitudinous fires
Flow like a silver ocean, other suns
Than thine, Earth's greater Light! and moons, whose disc
Borrows no radiance to adorn our globe,
Come forth: not slowly seen, as those pale stars
That, singly, from their dim recesses, steal,
Each after each, and on the rear of eve
Look like the lone vedettes of some vast march
Succeeding orderly: but, all at once,
In multiplied magnificence, at once
Throughout the firmament, heav'n's gathered host
Refulgent, in thick bands, and close array,
Planets and suns, and satellites, pour forth
Their pomp on the empyrean. These proclaim
A God: and ever as they wheel their fires
Erratic, in each orb of changeful curve,
All, in harmonious maze, surround thy throne,
Omnipotence! and trace th' eternal paths
Thou mad'st ere Light had birth.
A God on earth, others behold the heav'ns
276
Stretch back their ancient boundary; and beyond,
Realms, whose far gleams from multitudinous fires
Flow like a silver ocean, other suns
Than thine, Earth's greater Light! and moons, whose disc
Borrows no radiance to adorn our globe,
Come forth: not slowly seen, as those pale stars
That, singly, from their dim recesses, steal,
Each after each, and on the rear of eve
Look like the lone vedettes of some vast march
Succeeding orderly: but, all at once,
In multiplied magnificence, at once
Throughout the firmament, heav'n's gathered host
Refulgent, in thick bands, and close array,
Planets and suns, and satellites, pour forth
Their pomp on the empyrean. These proclaim
A God: and ever as they wheel their fires
Erratic, in each orb of changeful curve,
All, in harmonious maze, surround thy throne,
Omnipotence! and trace th' eternal paths
Thou mad'st ere Light had birth.
Oh thou, who dwell'st
Sole, 'mid infinitude! whose Word, that form'd,
Alone upholds creation, and goes forth
Each moment, thro' the amplitude of space,
Sole source of life and motion: thou alone
Art—ever.—Yon bright stars, each in itself
A central sun, and light of other worlds,
Each, like this earth, created fair, and form'd
And peopled for beatitude: these all,
Their ministration done, shall pass away,
And all the revolutions of their spheres
Cease, as a moment told.—But thou! who art
One, yesterday, to-morrow, and to-day,
Thou—ever:—and the Spirits of the Just
Made perfect by thy Presence!
Sole, 'mid infinitude! whose Word, that form'd,
Alone upholds creation, and goes forth
277
Sole source of life and motion: thou alone
Art—ever.—Yon bright stars, each in itself
A central sun, and light of other worlds,
Each, like this earth, created fair, and form'd
And peopled for beatitude: these all,
Their ministration done, shall pass away,
And all the revolutions of their spheres
Cease, as a moment told.—But thou! who art
One, yesterday, to-morrow, and to-day,
Thou—ever:—and the Spirits of the Just
Made perfect by thy Presence!
278
THE AIR—THE EARTH—THE OCEAN.
What art thou, viewless Spirit! whose soft breath
Floats, whispering, o'er me wooingly, and now,
Delusive, dies away, as in lone thought,
Fix'd on my solemn argument, I call
On Nature, and the Elements that mix
Their changeful shapes around her state, to hymn
Thy glory, God Creator?—On yon plain
The sun strikes heavy: summer noontide glares
O'er its unshadow'd sultriness: meantime,
Under cool umbrage of sequestred groves,
My native woodlands wild, I wander on
In pathless solitude, where sight nor sound
Disturbs me, save at times the shadowy play
Of leaves, that to the murmur of the wind
Make melody.
Floats, whispering, o'er me wooingly, and now,
Delusive, dies away, as in lone thought,
Fix'd on my solemn argument, I call
On Nature, and the Elements that mix
Their changeful shapes around her state, to hymn
Thy glory, God Creator?—On yon plain
The sun strikes heavy: summer noontide glares
O'er its unshadow'd sultriness: meantime,
Under cool umbrage of sequestred groves,
My native woodlands wild, I wander on
In pathless solitude, where sight nor sound
Disturbs me, save at times the shadowy play
Of leaves, that to the murmur of the wind
Make melody.
Sweet minstrel! many-voic'd,
Again thy whisper vibrates on the leaf
Delightful, companied with rural sounds,
The bleat of some lone doe, and trill of bird,
Whose echo charms the woodlands.—They have ceas'd:
But thou, aerial Visitant! thou com'st
Most mutable, and other change assum'st,
To woo another sense, wafting around
My way delicious odours, that exhale
From mead new-mown, clover, or thymy bank,
Where summer swarms brush from the purple bloom
Rich fragrance. Yet, ætherial Spirit! thy pow'r
Bears other office, than to charm the sense
With rural sound in woodlands wild, lone bleat
Of doe, or trill of bird; or all that breathes
Enchantment from touch'd lute, in moonlight glades,
When music melts upon the lip of Love.
And higher province thine, than to diffuse
Fragrance from mead new-mown, clover, or bank,
Where summer swarms float on the bloom, and mix
The song of murmuring melodies.
Again thy whisper vibrates on the leaf
279
The bleat of some lone doe, and trill of bird,
Whose echo charms the woodlands.—They have ceas'd:
But thou, aerial Visitant! thou com'st
Most mutable, and other change assum'st,
To woo another sense, wafting around
My way delicious odours, that exhale
From mead new-mown, clover, or thymy bank,
Where summer swarms brush from the purple bloom
Rich fragrance. Yet, ætherial Spirit! thy pow'r
Bears other office, than to charm the sense
With rural sound in woodlands wild, lone bleat
Of doe, or trill of bird; or all that breathes
Enchantment from touch'd lute, in moonlight glades,
When music melts upon the lip of Love.
And higher province thine, than to diffuse
Fragrance from mead new-mown, clover, or bank,
Where summer swarms float on the bloom, and mix
The song of murmuring melodies.
Thou heard'st
Of old, the Word omnipotent: “Go forth!
“Go wing'd with life, and round the world, wind free
“Thy fluid robe translucent: give the flame
“Its lustre: dye the blood with roseate health:
“Unfold the germ of nature: quick'ning, swell
“Each buried seed. In unseen strength array'd
“Press on the mountain tops, and, ceaseless, wear
“Their peel'd and shiver'd foreheads, till the rock
“That bore reproach of barrenness, become
“A pregnant soil. From earth's o'erloaded lap
“Sweep off the rank exuberance: and again
“From thy capacious womb, profuse of life,
“As from Creation's gather'd stores, supply
“Exhausted nature: and diffuse wing'd seeds
“O'er sterile solitudes that yet await
“Man's culture. Spread the twilight out, and lift
“The sun above the orient, and withhold
“His orb, suspended o'er the western waves,
“Bright with dilated amplitude: and yield,
“Yield to each beam untroubled space to pass
“From heav'n to earth: and gently interpose
“Thy mantle, thro' whose texture, radiant hues
“From all above, around, and underneath,
“Dart to and fro, and, like sweet voices tun'd,
“Meet unconfus'd: so charm the sight with sense
“Of lucid harmonies, that richly blend
“The golden sun, and the celestial cope
“Cerulean, with the green and glist'ning earth.”
Of old, the Word omnipotent: “Go forth!
“Go wing'd with life, and round the world, wind free
“Thy fluid robe translucent: give the flame
280
“Unfold the germ of nature: quick'ning, swell
“Each buried seed. In unseen strength array'd
“Press on the mountain tops, and, ceaseless, wear
“Their peel'd and shiver'd foreheads, till the rock
“That bore reproach of barrenness, become
“A pregnant soil. From earth's o'erloaded lap
“Sweep off the rank exuberance: and again
“From thy capacious womb, profuse of life,
“As from Creation's gather'd stores, supply
“Exhausted nature: and diffuse wing'd seeds
“O'er sterile solitudes that yet await
“Man's culture. Spread the twilight out, and lift
“The sun above the orient, and withhold
“His orb, suspended o'er the western waves,
“Bright with dilated amplitude: and yield,
“Yield to each beam untroubled space to pass
“From heav'n to earth: and gently interpose
“Thy mantle, thro' whose texture, radiant hues
“From all above, around, and underneath,
“Dart to and fro, and, like sweet voices tun'd,
“Meet unconfus'd: so charm the sight with sense
“Of lucid harmonies, that richly blend
“The golden sun, and the celestial cope
“Cerulean, with the green and glist'ning earth.”
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Thou heard'st, and Earth exulted. Man! survey
Thy goodly realm. Oh, World! once hail'd of heav'n,
Chang'd tho' thy state, and waxing to decay,
And under condemnation of thy judge,
His glory yet rests on thee. Wherefore else
This beauteous theatre? why proudly tow'r
Yon mountains, and their frozen peaks and rocks,
Up whose bleak brow the pine-wood climbs, and strikes
Roots down the icy clefts, and heights whereon
The cedar spreads his prodigal arms abroad,
Gathering the tempest under: at their base,
Glens, down whose fring'd declivities prone floods
Rush ceaseless: then, gay interchange of land,
Smooth hill, and slope of dale, that kindly rear
The olive and the purple grape, and fruits
All kind, luxuriant. Champains wide succeed,
Rich meads, and golden harvests intersect
With populous realms, hamlets, and spreading towns,
By flow of rivers, that beneath the yoke
Of marble arcs majestic, sea-ward bear
The barter of mankind. And lo! the Main
Stretch'd boundless, and the multitude of isles
Gay-cluster'd, or lone rocks that beam afar,
And high above the tossing of the surge
Lift their green brows, and laugh amid the storm
Of ocean, as it roars with all its waves
Tempestuous.
Thy goodly realm. Oh, World! once hail'd of heav'n,
Chang'd tho' thy state, and waxing to decay,
And under condemnation of thy judge,
His glory yet rests on thee. Wherefore else
This beauteous theatre? why proudly tow'r
Yon mountains, and their frozen peaks and rocks,
Up whose bleak brow the pine-wood climbs, and strikes
Roots down the icy clefts, and heights whereon
The cedar spreads his prodigal arms abroad,
Gathering the tempest under: at their base,
Glens, down whose fring'd declivities prone floods
Rush ceaseless: then, gay interchange of land,
Smooth hill, and slope of dale, that kindly rear
The olive and the purple grape, and fruits
All kind, luxuriant. Champains wide succeed,
Rich meads, and golden harvests intersect
With populous realms, hamlets, and spreading towns,
By flow of rivers, that beneath the yoke
Of marble arcs majestic, sea-ward bear
The barter of mankind. And lo! the Main
Stretch'd boundless, and the multitude of isles
Gay-cluster'd, or lone rocks that beam afar,
And high above the tossing of the surge
282
Of ocean, as it roars with all its waves
Tempestuous.
But, how fitly laud in song
Thy wonders, World of Waters? How extoll
Thy beauty? Fair art thou, oh, summer Sea!
In still repose: and sweet thy crisped smiles,
When twilight, slowly fading off, withdraws
Its shadow from the water, and unveils
The smooth expanse, on whose far bound the sky
Rests its blue concave. Yellow daylight then
Spreads bright illumination: and the breeze,
In ripples on the sparkling billow, meets
The morn, where o'er the bosom of the Deep
Light vapours wreathe their many-colour'd forms.
Meantime, the sun, with orb of gold, half-ris'n,
Looks thro' the mist, and on, from wave to wave,
Levels the tremulous radiance, lighting up
Far off his western goal. Nor lovely less,
At still autumnal night-fall, after length
Of sultry hours, when the last little cloud
That hung o'er the departing day, has lost
Its roseate livery: and the last low breath
Of wind, that like the chanted vesper rose,
Dies off, and dewy coolness greets its close.
Gray twilight, then, and gradual gloom succeed,
Till, fully-orb'd 'mid heav'n's resplendent host,
These errant, those at rest, Regent of Night,
The moon walks forth in brightness: and each cliff,
Hoar tow'r, and wood that boldly breasts the tide,
Smile, touch'd with tremulous light, while 'neath her disc
The heave of ocean, like a silver globe,
Swells out dimensionless. Sweet then to pace
The shore: and, fancy-free, rekindle dreams
Of blissful childhood, and again pursue
Far sea-nymphs, in smooth dance, on gleams of light,
That o'er the wave like silver shadows glide,
Brush'd by the night-air's wing: or, in lone muse
Bow'd o'er the stillness of the deep, to dwell
On lov'd friends gone, till the sooth'd Spirit taste
Of their unearthly quiet.—
Thy wonders, World of Waters? How extoll
Thy beauty? Fair art thou, oh, summer Sea!
In still repose: and sweet thy crisped smiles,
When twilight, slowly fading off, withdraws
Its shadow from the water, and unveils
The smooth expanse, on whose far bound the sky
Rests its blue concave. Yellow daylight then
Spreads bright illumination: and the breeze,
In ripples on the sparkling billow, meets
The morn, where o'er the bosom of the Deep
Light vapours wreathe their many-colour'd forms.
Meantime, the sun, with orb of gold, half-ris'n,
Looks thro' the mist, and on, from wave to wave,
Levels the tremulous radiance, lighting up
Far off his western goal. Nor lovely less,
At still autumnal night-fall, after length
Of sultry hours, when the last little cloud
That hung o'er the departing day, has lost
Its roseate livery: and the last low breath
Of wind, that like the chanted vesper rose,
Dies off, and dewy coolness greets its close.
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Till, fully-orb'd 'mid heav'n's resplendent host,
These errant, those at rest, Regent of Night,
The moon walks forth in brightness: and each cliff,
Hoar tow'r, and wood that boldly breasts the tide,
Smile, touch'd with tremulous light, while 'neath her disc
The heave of ocean, like a silver globe,
Swells out dimensionless. Sweet then to pace
The shore: and, fancy-free, rekindle dreams
Of blissful childhood, and again pursue
Far sea-nymphs, in smooth dance, on gleams of light,
That o'er the wave like silver shadows glide,
Brush'd by the night-air's wing: or, in lone muse
Bow'd o'er the stillness of the deep, to dwell
On lov'd friends gone, till the sooth'd Spirit taste
Of their unearthly quiet.—
Then, oh, thou!
Sore smitten, prey of woe, or harsh neglect,
Or vex'd of worldly turbulence, awhile
Retire: and on the low and level sands,
When the soft moon-light seems to still the main,
List the smooth lapse of ocean. The soft light
Shall soothe thee, and the lulling lapse has pow'r
To steal thee from thyself. Or, boldly climb
Some headland, when the rising gale rings loud,
And as the chaf'd sea roars, yield all thy soul
To rapture: and allaying troublous thought,
In aspirations of the heart, adore
Th' Omnipotent. Forsaking thus, far off,
The worldly din, I woo lone thoughts that raise
The disincumber'd spirit: while 'mid woods,
Whose high tops never drank the briny spray,
Rapt Fancy, picturing the numbers, pours
Far ocean in, and, boldly dashing round
The roar of its wild waters, fitlier lauds
His might, whose Spirit mov'd upon the Deep.
And moves it not the Deep? whether his pow'r,
Sore smitten, prey of woe, or harsh neglect,
Or vex'd of worldly turbulence, awhile
Retire: and on the low and level sands,
When the soft moon-light seems to still the main,
List the smooth lapse of ocean. The soft light
Shall soothe thee, and the lulling lapse has pow'r
To steal thee from thyself. Or, boldly climb
284
And as the chaf'd sea roars, yield all thy soul
To rapture: and allaying troublous thought,
In aspirations of the heart, adore
Th' Omnipotent. Forsaking thus, far off,
The worldly din, I woo lone thoughts that raise
The disincumber'd spirit: while 'mid woods,
Whose high tops never drank the briny spray,
Rapt Fancy, picturing the numbers, pours
Far ocean in, and, boldly dashing round
The roar of its wild waters, fitlier lauds
His might, whose Spirit mov'd upon the Deep.
Peaceably ruling without pomp, call up
To sunshine, and the breath of upper air,
The viewless generations, age on age,
That 'neath unfathom'd waves slow-labouring lift
Their giant masonry, and gem wide seas
With coral isles:—that Man, where'er dispers'd,
May find fit rest, and life's link'd chain extend
Far as the free wave wanders:—or, in might
Descending, from the bosom of th' abyss
Bid the dry land appear. Such, as of late,
They view'd off Santorin, who, at gray dawn,
Saw but the still wave smiling, and light mists
285
Succeeded; for ere yet swift eve declined,
Untimely darkness sat upon the sea,
While ocean thunder'd 'mid the storm of waves,
From whose wide-smoking bosom floods of fire
Gush'd forth, and rocks that, hurtling in 'mid air,
Blaz'd as they flew; and from the rent abyss
An isle uprose, with cliff, and spacious plain:
And from afar its promontory tow'r'd
A mount of living flames: anon to bear
Gay verdure, and to listen to the voice
Of rills that down cool glens meand'ring glide.
The vital Word went forth: “Be fruitful, Seas!
“Bring forth abundantly.”—Earth! on thy face
Dwells gladness: and thy green lap gifts with food
Fair creatures in their kind: but 'neath thy turf
Lies the dark realm untenanted. Thou, Deep!
Teem'st animate throughout, sea beneath sea
Continuous birth. Enormous forms uncouth
Heave on the main, and upward gazing, spout
The briny fount. But who hath told the race
Under the green wave gliding? Part, below,
Haunt: other part, at season due, move forth,
Not without charge shaping their yearly course,
To feed earth's barren regions. Witness, ye,
286
In bosom of the melancholy main:
Rude natives of the rocks, whose bleak heights gaze
On Caledonia's howling head-lands wild:
The sterile residence, where no hill top
Waves verdure—ye, rejoice! No longer chase
On cliffs, whose dizzy brows o'erarch the flood,
The fierce and clamorous sea-fowl: tempt no more
Dark caves where wild kinds gender. Golden suns
Invite: 'tis peace, and silence on the sea.
The ice-chain of the northern Deep gives way;
Forth burst the nations. Ocean gleams afar:
The many-colour'd main has lost its hue
Cerulean. Where the vast migration heaves,
Wing'd flights o'erhang their banquet, vast of size
Beneath, on either flank, the swoln whale preys
Insatiate: nathless, far and wide, and deep,
Column on column, furrowing up the flood,
Rolls onward, and each isle and peopled rock
Rings like a hamlet feast at harvest home.
Soother of Seasons! World of Waters! hail!
The Pow'r, whose wisdom wheels the globe athwart
The orb of light, and laid each adverse pole
On everlasting ice, bad roll thy strength,
287
Thick sunbeams off, or, forceful to repel
Stern Winter, as he stands upon the edge
Of the firm-frozen Arctic.—Wherefore rests
Earth rooted 'mid thy billows? Hark! the voice
Of Nature, calling on the Lord of life
With thy nutritious spirit to sustain
Creation. And the Lord of life looks down,
And bids each searching sunbeam, and each wind
Whose path is on the restless Deep, require
His treasures stor'd in thy capacious womb,
To gladden the green herb. Hence, tempests, toss
Thy billows: or, smooth seas, of winds unvex'd,
That seem to sleep, wave after wave, ascend,
And silently along the blue serene
Float on the painted clouds, that deck the pomp
Of summer. And the golden-tressed hours
That tend the car of day, gird up in light
Thy viewless waters: and, in turn, the train
That stol'd in matron weeds, accompany
Eve's shadowy course, with dewy finger chill
Unloose the burden, and pour stilly down
On hill and vale large dew-drops, that all night
Lay thick upon the branch, and gem at dawn
With pearls the twinkling green-sward. And who comes
288
Borne on the tempest's outstretch'd wings, and pours
On earth thy rich abundance, making air
Another ocean? Thou com'st down in strength,
Jehovah! o'er the splendour of noon-day,
When freshness fails the mead, thy glory, girt
With thunder, and in canopy of clouds
Pavilion'd: and the winds, that bear thee on,
Shake from their sounding pennons, far and wide,
The rush of mighty waters. These have charge
To pierce beneath earth's grassy robe, and search
The veins that intersect her ribs of rock,
The crude mine ripening: some, therein to place,
As in a thick-arch'd treasury, richest grains
Borne with the stream; or lodge the embryon ores,
That in their lapse pass'd viewless: thus, her depths
In many a cavernous womb, and veiny cleft,
Seemingly work of violence, are stor'd
With inexhaustible wealth: her palaces,
Where some have feign'd gnomes, and swart demon, girt
With dragon guard, brood o'er their unsunn'd heaps,
Gleam diamond-lustred.—Hence, her roofs emboss'd
With gems and stalactites, whose loitering drops
Grow rigid in their fall, and from beneath
289
A brilliant coruscation. Some, ere sunk
Beneath the soil, explore the tainted wreck
Of forms organic once, in sad decay
Now wasting slow. The pure stream, as it parts
Their elements, methinks, with voice of pow'r
Exclaims—“Why slumber ye, who, lately adorn'd
“With form, and hue, and vigour, in gay bloom
“Perfum'd the spring: or on the mountain brows,
“Like those of Libanon, when roar'd the gale,
“Spread your broad arms indignant: or, endow'd
“With the celestial Spirit, dwelt on God,
“Creator, Judge, and Saviour.—Sleep no more
“A burden, and a pest. I bear you down,
“To rise a new creation.”—Thus ordain'd,
To Nature, and her many seeded womb,
The vital spirit of the water bears
Fertility. The new germ wakes, unfolds,
And from its brow, aspirant, proudly shakes
Its cradling earth-tomb off. Meantime, the dews
Descend: and every fibre, myriad-mouth'd,
Rests never from the moisten'd mould to draw
New life: and, at each genial season, quaff
Afresh nectareous stores that autumn laid
In root, and grassy joint, and knotted stem,
Food for the vernal offspring: on they wind
290
And many a mazy vessel, opening now,
Now closing, wreath on wreath their spiral rings
To woo, and urge them upwards. The green leaf
Expands, and drinks the light, and at each pore
That opens on the sun, the currents change
Their nature: part, the liquid form put off,
Goes forth an unseen element, the waste
Of vital air restoring: part, absorb'd,
Flows, circling, down, richly endow'd, to form
Fruits, and fresh growth of harvests, precious gums
Lenient of pain: all that the summer bee
Steals, labouring into liquid gold, and all
That Mecca gathers, when the wounded rind
Weeps, and each tear a sov'reign balm distils—
These kindly flow. But where th' immingling veins
Join currents, Lord of Nature, I behold
Thy plastic Spirit provident. The sap
Assumes corporeal substance, and while man,
Race after race, sinks, mouldering into dust,
Grows, gathering up its hardihood; now rears
'Mid the wild woods some beech, that far outspreads
O'er the dark lake its night of leaves: or pine
Norwegian, on high mountain ridge, of pow'r
To stay the expanded main-sail labouring full
Before the gale: or ever-during growth
291
In many a native forest. Witness, thou,
Far-fam'd in song, hoar Silcar! whose high brow
O'er Need-wood shades tow'rs eminent: and thou,
Renown of Yardley! to whose honour'd age
A Bard, whose lyre was tun'd with angel chords,
Disdain'd not homage: and thy boast, unsung,
Hainault! not seldom underneath whose gloom
I muse, and lonely meditate the lay,
Still Peace and inspiration breathing round.
The years of old hang graceful on thy boughs.
Yon gray-hair'd woodman, native of these wilds,
Who to his list'ning grandson tells the tale
His grandsires told, delivers down of thee
Traditionary records, as of one
Whose birth outrun their date. They too, like me,
Beheld with fond regret thy gray-top sere
Bare to each gale, the roots that prop thy bulk
Expos'd, and heaving 'bove the wintry floods
Their gnarl'd and wreathed strength: thy rugged trunk,
Like some vast cave by storm-tost ocean arch'd,
Deep hollow'd, and the outstretch of thy arms
Gigantic, measuring far and wide the glade.
292
How gladly would the Muse—were this fit place—
Search out thy birth, tho' trac'd 'mid days unblest,
When wolves, amid the labyrinth of woods,
Prowl'd freely, and the doe scarce found still lair
To hide her fawn new-dropt. Might now the song
Pursue thy growth, would it not tell of times,
When British archers bold, unquestion'd, twang'd
The yew in forest chase? and following up
Thy strength, recount of Normans, whose harsh yoke
Fell on the woodlands, when thy branches rang'd
O'er antler'd herds at rest:—that age gone by,
How note that here and there the cot peep'd up,
When on the spreading rind the shepherd lad
His rude mark scarr'd, or 'gainst thy trunk reclin'd,
Shap'd his green reed, and in rude minstrelsy
Pip'd to the flock at pasture:—then point out,
Wild after wild uprooted, where the ox
Sore-labour'd: and how roof crept close to roof,
And neighb'ring hamlets rose, and the sweet chime
Of the church-bell was heard, when, 'neath the shade
Of thy luxuriant prime, at yearly feast,
Gather'd the jocund reapers, when the sheaf
Was garner'd. Gambols then, laughter and dance,
And merrily the rival songsters troll'd
Their roundelay, and many a chaplet deck'd
The victor's prize, thy boughs.—Far other theme
Now waits me: underneath earth's flow'ry lap
To trace the show'rs that search her secret depths,
And from dark caves, and pregnant mines gush forth
In gifted waters.
Search out thy birth, tho' trac'd 'mid days unblest,
When wolves, amid the labyrinth of woods,
Prowl'd freely, and the doe scarce found still lair
To hide her fawn new-dropt. Might now the song
Pursue thy growth, would it not tell of times,
When British archers bold, unquestion'd, twang'd
The yew in forest chase? and following up
Thy strength, recount of Normans, whose harsh yoke
Fell on the woodlands, when thy branches rang'd
O'er antler'd herds at rest:—that age gone by,
How note that here and there the cot peep'd up,
When on the spreading rind the shepherd lad
His rude mark scarr'd, or 'gainst thy trunk reclin'd,
Shap'd his green reed, and in rude minstrelsy
Pip'd to the flock at pasture:—then point out,
Wild after wild uprooted, where the ox
Sore-labour'd: and how roof crept close to roof,
And neighb'ring hamlets rose, and the sweet chime
Of the church-bell was heard, when, 'neath the shade
Of thy luxuriant prime, at yearly feast,
Gather'd the jocund reapers, when the sheaf
Was garner'd. Gambols then, laughter and dance,
And merrily the rival songsters troll'd
293
The victor's prize, thy boughs.—Far other theme
Now waits me: underneath earth's flow'ry lap
To trace the show'rs that search her secret depths,
And from dark caves, and pregnant mines gush forth
In gifted waters.
Hail, salubrious springs,
In moor and mount! and ye, whose rills endow
Proud cities: or, in fring'd dells cleave the rock!
Flow on! and ever o'er your currents hear
The shout of adoration; such as shook
Thy porch, Bethesda! when the Angel, seen
Of mortal eye, at certain time, came down
Troubling the water. Where beholds not earth
The crippled leap, and the suspended crutch
Hang o'er the healing fount? Who has not heard
Of marble-paved Prusa, and fam'd springs
From Pyrenean heights? nor flow thy streams,
My native isle, lov'd Albion! of far realms
Unhonour'd. Pure thy springs, where'er they lead,
Fair Hope: and with delightful scenery cheer
The sufferer: whether to thy verdant brow,
Sun-circled Malvern! severing yon expanse
Of meads, along whose range Sabrina winds
Her yellow waters, from that fairy land,
Changeful of hill and dale, which blossom'd o'er
Of orchards, all the pleasant spring-time make
A flow'ry garden redolent; or, on
To woo the tepid fountains, welling up
'Mid crystal waterfalls, and woods which root
Their tangles in the veins of starting rocks,
That hang o'er the green glen, where Matlock smiles
Imparadis'd:—or, to thy flow'ry meads,
Fair structur'd Bath! and fount, of pow'r to heal
Him hopeless, like that Syrian chief, who left,
Tho' loth, for Jordan's flood, his native streams,
His Pharphar and Abuna, and went back
Like one new born.
In moor and mount! and ye, whose rills endow
Proud cities: or, in fring'd dells cleave the rock!
Flow on! and ever o'er your currents hear
The shout of adoration; such as shook
Thy porch, Bethesda! when the Angel, seen
Of mortal eye, at certain time, came down
Troubling the water. Where beholds not earth
The crippled leap, and the suspended crutch
Hang o'er the healing fount? Who has not heard
Of marble-paved Prusa, and fam'd springs
From Pyrenean heights? nor flow thy streams,
My native isle, lov'd Albion! of far realms
Unhonour'd. Pure thy springs, where'er they lead,
Fair Hope: and with delightful scenery cheer
The sufferer: whether to thy verdant brow,
Sun-circled Malvern! severing yon expanse
Of meads, along whose range Sabrina winds
Her yellow waters, from that fairy land,
294
Of orchards, all the pleasant spring-time make
A flow'ry garden redolent; or, on
To woo the tepid fountains, welling up
'Mid crystal waterfalls, and woods which root
Their tangles in the veins of starting rocks,
That hang o'er the green glen, where Matlock smiles
Imparadis'd:—or, to thy flow'ry meads,
Fair structur'd Bath! and fount, of pow'r to heal
Him hopeless, like that Syrian chief, who left,
Tho' loth, for Jordan's flood, his native streams,
His Pharphar and Abuna, and went back
Like one new born.
Such Albion boasts. I pass
The rest in silence by. So might I pass
One, which to name I linger: linger, long
Reluctant, pausing on the bosom griefs
That will have way. Yet, far the spring renown'd,
And Health ('tis said) of Clifton's fountain fills
Her chalice. Yet, ah, happier thou, than I,
Ah, happier far, whoe'er, on whose fond arm
One well belov'd to life and bliss restor'd,
Has hung, and there with salutation sweet,
Bade farewell to each lovely haunt, on down,
Green slope, or by the river's brawling maze,
That, under glittering cliffs, seeks the still combs
That whisper peace: but not to me: to me
Woe, and fond thoughts of those, who sought the fount
But thence return'd no more;—of thee, there laid,
Thy duties done: thou! on whose nurturing breast
I hung; and from whose lip (oh, patient Spirit!)
First drew celestial truth. So were but mine
Thy suavity, and gentleness of heart,
Kind mother! and those jocund spirits light,
That, unrepress'd by troubles, not unwept,
Rose bright with hope: as, after storm, the flow'r
Springs renovate, and, looking on the sun,
Throws from its opening leaves the chill drops off.
The rest in silence by. So might I pass
One, which to name I linger: linger, long
Reluctant, pausing on the bosom griefs
That will have way. Yet, far the spring renown'd,
And Health ('tis said) of Clifton's fountain fills
Her chalice. Yet, ah, happier thou, than I,
Ah, happier far, whoe'er, on whose fond arm
One well belov'd to life and bliss restor'd,
Has hung, and there with salutation sweet,
Bade farewell to each lovely haunt, on down,
Green slope, or by the river's brawling maze,
295
That whisper peace: but not to me: to me
Woe, and fond thoughts of those, who sought the fount
But thence return'd no more;—of thee, there laid,
Thy duties done: thou! on whose nurturing breast
I hung; and from whose lip (oh, patient Spirit!)
First drew celestial truth. So were but mine
Thy suavity, and gentleness of heart,
Kind mother! and those jocund spirits light,
That, unrepress'd by troubles, not unwept,
Rose bright with hope: as, after storm, the flow'r
Springs renovate, and, looking on the sun,
Throws from its opening leaves the chill drops off.
There, thou, at last, in the still grave, hast found
Thy place of rest, my sister! on whose couch,
Moon after moon, as years toil'd slowly round,
Rest dwelt not, chas'd of untold pangs, that rous'd
To nightly vigils. Yet, while sharp disease,
Tho' slow, hung ceaseless o'er thee, thy pale lip
Still spake of Hope, nor lost in pain its smile.
Rest thou with God! with us, who yet remain,
Thy bright example! and, if such on earth
Our doom, Saint! sorely tried, breathe in our souls
A portion of thy spirit!—And thou, too,
With these, my playful child!—where now that voice,
Whose sound was as gay music? Thou art gone,
Whose fancy was the magic of bright dreams,
Making earth fairy-vision'd—sweetest flow'r
Cut off in beauty's bloom: in loveliest prime
Of life, when each new day new charms unfolds.
Thou art not, nor avails the tender thought
That dwells on what thou wert, on what hadst been,
(Train'd up by her who inly weeps thy loss)
If life had held its promise.
Thy place of rest, my sister! on whose couch,
Moon after moon, as years toil'd slowly round,
Rest dwelt not, chas'd of untold pangs, that rous'd
To nightly vigils. Yet, while sharp disease,
Tho' slow, hung ceaseless o'er thee, thy pale lip
Still spake of Hope, nor lost in pain its smile.
Rest thou with God! with us, who yet remain,
Thy bright example! and, if such on earth
Our doom, Saint! sorely tried, breathe in our souls
A portion of thy spirit!—And thou, too,
296
Whose sound was as gay music? Thou art gone,
Whose fancy was the magic of bright dreams,
Making earth fairy-vision'd—sweetest flow'r
Cut off in beauty's bloom: in loveliest prime
Of life, when each new day new charms unfolds.
Thou art not, nor avails the tender thought
That dwells on what thou wert, on what hadst been,
(Train'd up by her who inly weeps thy loss)
If life had held its promise.
Ah, farewell!
I may not dwell, unblam'd, with vain regret
On those who are no more—
Yet—yet—farewell!
I may not dwell, unblam'd, with vain regret
On those who are no more—
Yet—yet—farewell!
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CONTINUATION AND CONCLUSION OF THE AIR—THE EARTH, AND OCEAN.
Arise! nor longer turn to fond lament
The strain of adoration!
The strain of adoration!
Ye wing'd storms,
That sweep contagion off: ye clouds, that seek
The mountain's frozen brows, and down their range
Feed with perpetual lapse of winding floods
Earth's peopled realms! and ye, Etesian gales!
That know th' appointed times, and bearing on
Exultant Commerce o'er wide seas, in turn
Hold empire! ye, celestial ministers!
Accept my closing numbers.
That sweep contagion off: ye clouds, that seek
The mountain's frozen brows, and down their range
Feed with perpetual lapse of winding floods
Earth's peopled realms! and ye, Etesian gales!
That know th' appointed times, and bearing on
Exultant Commerce o'er wide seas, in turn
Hold empire! ye, celestial ministers!
Accept my closing numbers.
Oh! were mine
The harp of Sion, and the hand to sweep
Its thrilling wires, responsive to that voice
Which, in the visitation of the winds,
Speaks unto earth and ocean!
The harp of Sion, and the hand to sweep
298
Which, in the visitation of the winds,
Speaks unto earth and ocean!
“Roar, ye waves!
“And heave your mountain billows! and ye storms,
“Bear on your wings pure gales! and sweeping on
“Unwearied search the Deep, from sea to sea,
“If there corruption gender. Bow, ye woods,
“Till every leaf give answer. Earth, beneath,
“Has sickly taint, the spotted pest is sped
“On ravage; and where close throng'd cities send
“Their loud brawl madd'ning up, silently weaves
“For all the shroud of death. Lo, on the plains
“Mildew, and foul stagnation, and the fiend
“That to the sickle says, ‘Away! 'tis mine
“‘The harvest; mine the seed of swart decay.’
“These fly the tempest's sweep. Where now, oh earth,
“The locust, the wing'd host? I heard afar
“The hurtling of their pennons, as they rush'd
“Impatient to devour. And who, but thou,
“My north-east! with the breathing of thy blast
“Confus'd the dark array, and, warping, drave
“Their battle down to ocean? and the Deep
“Lay still beneath their tumult.”
“And heave your mountain billows! and ye storms,
“Bear on your wings pure gales! and sweeping on
“Unwearied search the Deep, from sea to sea,
“If there corruption gender. Bow, ye woods,
“Till every leaf give answer. Earth, beneath,
“Has sickly taint, the spotted pest is sped
“On ravage; and where close throng'd cities send
“Their loud brawl madd'ning up, silently weaves
“For all the shroud of death. Lo, on the plains
“Mildew, and foul stagnation, and the fiend
“That to the sickle says, ‘Away! 'tis mine
“‘The harvest; mine the seed of swart decay.’
“These fly the tempest's sweep. Where now, oh earth,
“The locust, the wing'd host? I heard afar
“The hurtling of their pennons, as they rush'd
“Impatient to devour. And who, but thou,
“My north-east! with the breathing of thy blast
“Confus'd the dark array, and, warping, drave
“Their battle down to ocean? and the Deep
“Lay still beneath their tumult.”
299
Such his voice
Whose sound goes forth in tempest. Ye have heard,
'Mid summer seas, on islands of the sun,
Ye, too, have heard it, when th' infuriate gales
Rag'd, and rent earth reel'd on its central base
Beneath you? Oh, awhile forsake your haunts
On the green mountain slope, where now ye woo
The sea breeze, and the voice of murmuring rills,
Lapp'd in delightful day dreams, underneath
Cool arch of quivering foliage. Hang no more
O'er golden fruited groves, and plains that burst
With nectar harvests, whence the stir of men,
And pipe and song, immix'd with other sound
Of menace and lament. Away! unyoke
The slave: 'tis time: unyoke: foreboding signs
Give note. How! mark'd you not the conscious moon,
'Mid the dilated stars dimm'd in their sheen,
Crimson her silver crescent? and yon mounts
That shook their thick mists off, and stood confess'd,
As aw'd in unveil'd terror? Wherefore seen
Ere sun-set, in the depth of distant heav'ns,
Clouds behind clouds unrolling, whence pale fires
That faintly gleam'd, as if th' omnipotent arm
Had rent th' ethereal canopy, and show'd
Foreboding lightnings, ere yet launch'd to smite
The nether globe? That time, the earth beneath
Sent forth a sound as of a mighty wind:
Nor the deep wells kept silence, nor yet ceas'd
Ocean, when no gale stirr'd, to heave its strength,
And breathe foul taints. Fly, fly! the voice from earth
And sea is hush'd: o'er all, dead Silence reigns
Delusive. Hark! at once the tempest roars
Infuriate, wing'd with flame: the madd'ning winds
From every point, as in wild chaos old,
Immingle. To the bolt, launch'd down from heav'n,
Earth sends her lightnings up. And hark! the roar
Of ocean, and deep thunders, and prone floods
From flaming clouds, and hideous crash of woods
And fall of cities, tow'r and fort laid low,
As on the hurricane's outstretch'd pennons, Death
Shouts triumphing.—'Tis past: the beam of morn
Smiles, and from deep-delv'd caves steal slowly out
The bond slave and his lord, and to and fro
Stray in their fear, wide wreck and woe around:
Forgotten soon: for 'mid the storm rush'd down
The genial Pow'r, beneath whose sway the isle,
Ere long, exhaustless revels: as if earth
Had in the shaking of the blast thrown off
Her hoar decrepitude, and newly rob'd
In youth, and bloom of beauty, woo'd the sun.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Not at list
Whose sound goes forth in tempest. Ye have heard,
'Mid summer seas, on islands of the sun,
Ye, too, have heard it, when th' infuriate gales
Rag'd, and rent earth reel'd on its central base
Beneath you? Oh, awhile forsake your haunts
On the green mountain slope, where now ye woo
The sea breeze, and the voice of murmuring rills,
Lapp'd in delightful day dreams, underneath
Cool arch of quivering foliage. Hang no more
O'er golden fruited groves, and plains that burst
With nectar harvests, whence the stir of men,
And pipe and song, immix'd with other sound
Of menace and lament. Away! unyoke
The slave: 'tis time: unyoke: foreboding signs
Give note. How! mark'd you not the conscious moon,
'Mid the dilated stars dimm'd in their sheen,
Crimson her silver crescent? and yon mounts
That shook their thick mists off, and stood confess'd,
As aw'd in unveil'd terror? Wherefore seen
Ere sun-set, in the depth of distant heav'ns,
Clouds behind clouds unrolling, whence pale fires
That faintly gleam'd, as if th' omnipotent arm
Had rent th' ethereal canopy, and show'd
300
The nether globe? That time, the earth beneath
Sent forth a sound as of a mighty wind:
Nor the deep wells kept silence, nor yet ceas'd
Ocean, when no gale stirr'd, to heave its strength,
And breathe foul taints. Fly, fly! the voice from earth
And sea is hush'd: o'er all, dead Silence reigns
Delusive. Hark! at once the tempest roars
Infuriate, wing'd with flame: the madd'ning winds
From every point, as in wild chaos old,
Immingle. To the bolt, launch'd down from heav'n,
Earth sends her lightnings up. And hark! the roar
Of ocean, and deep thunders, and prone floods
From flaming clouds, and hideous crash of woods
And fall of cities, tow'r and fort laid low,
As on the hurricane's outstretch'd pennons, Death
Shouts triumphing.—'Tis past: the beam of morn
Smiles, and from deep-delv'd caves steal slowly out
The bond slave and his lord, and to and fro
Stray in their fear, wide wreck and woe around:
Forgotten soon: for 'mid the storm rush'd down
The genial Pow'r, beneath whose sway the isle,
Ere long, exhaustless revels: as if earth
Had in the shaking of the blast thrown off
301
In youth, and bloom of beauty, woo'd the sun.
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
The winds breathe light or boisterous; not at list
Wander capricious: each, call'd duly out,
Hears, and fulfils high mission. Does parch'd earth
Pant, and the cleaving glebe expose to light
The dry and wither'd root? Lo! from the west,
Clouds that show'r down abundance. Droops the plain
Deep-flooded? far, o'er land, the east-wind speeds
With dryness on his pennons. Claims the seed
Warmth of o'er-mantling snow? Comes not the north
With fleecy flakes thick-burden'd? and when Spring
Fears to unfold her blossoms, and hoar frost
Hangs, tinkling on the bud, how sweetly sounds
The south-wind from its pleasant place, and wakes
The flow'rets, and unchains the rills that shed
Soft dew-drops on the garland-tressed May.
Nor less, vast winds that sway the waters, hear
Like gracious charge celestial. Launch, then, forth
Adventurous, and behold how God has spread
The ocean out, and bad the gales there ope
The high-way of the nations.
Like gracious charge celestial. Launch, then, forth
302
The ocean out, and bad the gales there ope
The high-way of the nations.
Boasts, then, Earth
Her fixed state? and, gazing, proudly round
On the eternal hills, exclaims, “Oh, Man!
“Here rest: on my stability repose!
“Fulfil thy destiny here, where sleep thy sires,
“Each in his native soil! Oh, stay: Content,
“That met thee yester-morn, and to still vales
“Led thee at eve, shall it not greet with smiles
“Thy morrow as this day, and link in one,
“Age and the stripling prime? Rest here, nor dread
“The coming hour: enough, that God has fix'd
“Seed-time, and harvest. Let the mariner,
“At night-watch, with the many-shadow'd clouds,
“Hold question of the obscure and doubtful sign:
“And hear them, as endow'd with many tongues,
“Give answer. Let him commune with each star
“That cast its beam on th' billow, or pale moon
“That toils thro' sullen skies, or streaks of fire,
“Which, when sad eve the clouded welkin cross'd,
“Spake of near tempest. Recks it thee, what Night
“Says of the Morn? if fair, tell out thy flock
“On th' upland brow, and number their increase;
“Or hie to rural work, in sun or shade,
“Green forest, or the bean-field breathing sweats:
“Or, of thy toil make pastime, in the press
“Of labour thro' the sultry harvest moon.
“If tempests threaten, let the bleak storm burst:
“Holds not thy cot firm station upon earth?
“Falls not the slumberous rain-drop from thy eaves,
“While on the breast of love the brow of toil
“Lies sweetly pillow'd. There repose in peace
“Unquestion'd, while the song that lulls thy rest
“Dwells on the distant shipwreck, and vex'd men
“That with mad seas wage warfare.”
Her fixed state? and, gazing, proudly round
On the eternal hills, exclaims, “Oh, Man!
“Here rest: on my stability repose!
“Fulfil thy destiny here, where sleep thy sires,
“Each in his native soil! Oh, stay: Content,
“That met thee yester-morn, and to still vales
“Led thee at eve, shall it not greet with smiles
“Thy morrow as this day, and link in one,
“Age and the stripling prime? Rest here, nor dread
“The coming hour: enough, that God has fix'd
“Seed-time, and harvest. Let the mariner,
“At night-watch, with the many-shadow'd clouds,
“Hold question of the obscure and doubtful sign:
“And hear them, as endow'd with many tongues,
“Give answer. Let him commune with each star
“That cast its beam on th' billow, or pale moon
“That toils thro' sullen skies, or streaks of fire,
“Which, when sad eve the clouded welkin cross'd,
“Spake of near tempest. Recks it thee, what Night
303
“On th' upland brow, and number their increase;
“Or hie to rural work, in sun or shade,
“Green forest, or the bean-field breathing sweats:
“Or, of thy toil make pastime, in the press
“Of labour thro' the sultry harvest moon.
“If tempests threaten, let the bleak storm burst:
“Holds not thy cot firm station upon earth?
“Falls not the slumberous rain-drop from thy eaves,
“While on the breast of love the brow of toil
“Lies sweetly pillow'd. There repose in peace
“Unquestion'd, while the song that lulls thy rest
“Dwells on the distant shipwreck, and vex'd men
“That with mad seas wage warfare.”
Cease!—Have heart,
Brave mariner! and let their night-song close
On shipwreck and sea-farers! Steer thou on!
Traverse the watery world! from clime to clime
Pour forth on each the gifts of all, and link
Mankind in bonds of love: diffuse the light
Of science, teach the savage arts unknown,
And o'er the nations and lone isles bring down
The day-spring of Salvation.—Therefore, God
Spake to the winds an ordinance, and gave
The sun his station. Does the orb of day
Light up the eastern flood? the sea-breeze knows
Its harbinger, and ocean flows beneath
His beam, on progress: other winds, meantime,
Each in due season, slope from either pole
Their currents sunward. Lo! the Lord of Day
Drives up the northern signs: earth gladly drinks
His radiance, and the Pole that long lay hid
In gloom, unvisited of gladsome beam,
Forgets the darkness, while the broad bright disc,
Month after month, day ever without night,
Rolls round his brow reposeless. And the wings
Of mighty winds that bear his chariot, range
Beyond their former bounds: and sweeping on
South-eastward, half the year, athwart the sea
Of Araby, to shores where Gama found
Enthron'd the Zamorin; or round the Cape
By Taprobana, guide the vessel on
To Ganges, and the golden Chersonese:—
Or, further, past Sumatra, and the gulf
Of Siam, turn the prow, where foreign masts
Crowd in the Bocca-Tigris.—In old times
When they of Ishmael, who, on journey, came
From Gilead with their camels, bearing spice
To Egypt, balm and myrrh, and bought him, slave,
Whom visions of the Almighty preordain'd
For glory: and, in later times, o'erland,
When traffickers, 'mid deserts, drave their march
To Tadmor, and beheld, o'er pillar'd heights
That tow'r'd afar, like high-embowed woods,
The sun's proud temple soaring, serv'd not then,
As now, th' Etesian gale, and one its voice
Delightful heard on ocean?
Brave mariner! and let their night-song close
On shipwreck and sea-farers! Steer thou on!
Traverse the watery world! from clime to clime
Pour forth on each the gifts of all, and link
Mankind in bonds of love: diffuse the light
Of science, teach the savage arts unknown,
And o'er the nations and lone isles bring down
The day-spring of Salvation.—Therefore, God
Spake to the winds an ordinance, and gave
The sun his station. Does the orb of day
304
Its harbinger, and ocean flows beneath
His beam, on progress: other winds, meantime,
Each in due season, slope from either pole
Their currents sunward. Lo! the Lord of Day
Drives up the northern signs: earth gladly drinks
His radiance, and the Pole that long lay hid
In gloom, unvisited of gladsome beam,
Forgets the darkness, while the broad bright disc,
Month after month, day ever without night,
Rolls round his brow reposeless. And the wings
Of mighty winds that bear his chariot, range
Beyond their former bounds: and sweeping on
South-eastward, half the year, athwart the sea
Of Araby, to shores where Gama found
Enthron'd the Zamorin; or round the Cape
By Taprobana, guide the vessel on
To Ganges, and the golden Chersonese:—
Or, further, past Sumatra, and the gulf
Of Siam, turn the prow, where foreign masts
Crowd in the Bocca-Tigris.—In old times
When they of Ishmael, who, on journey, came
From Gilead with their camels, bearing spice
To Egypt, balm and myrrh, and bought him, slave,
Whom visions of the Almighty preordain'd
For glory: and, in later times, o'erland,
305
To Tadmor, and beheld, o'er pillar'd heights
That tow'r'd afar, like high-embowed woods,
The sun's proud temple soaring, serv'd not then,
As now, th' Etesian gale, and one its voice
Delightful heard on ocean?
“Hither come,
“Ye nations! for your fleets the billow flows
“Expectant: leave the land, 'tis tedious toil,
“Rude is the pathless mountain, and yon wastes
“Unfreshen'd by a rill: fly the wing'd sands
“That wait you, and wild Arab, eagle-ey'd,
“Loose from the bond, and brotherhood of Man!
“Ye nations! for your fleets the billow flows
“Expectant: leave the land, 'tis tedious toil,
“Rude is the pathless mountain, and yon wastes
“Unfreshen'd by a rill: fly the wing'd sands
“That wait you, and wild Arab, eagle-ey'd,
“Loose from the bond, and brotherhood of Man!
“Hither, ye nations! to your fleets I call.
“I lead to realms where show'r and sunshine strive
“In emulous contest, genial both, which best
“Shall fertilise the soil, and gift its birth
“With grandeur, grace, and beauty. Nature, here,
“Knows not repose; on tendril, tree, and blade,
“Harvest succeeds to harvest: and the fruit
“That falls from the full branch, looks on the bud,
“Gay opening on the sunbeam. Bear from hence
“Your ivory palaces, and dow'r your brides
“With diamonds and rare gems. Behold yon woods
“Gigantic: they, in triumph, o'er the main
“Shall float your treasures, when the northern oak
“Droops, mouldering, on the sea-beach. Steersman! hence!
“Lo! down the southern signs the Lord of Day
“Speeds his slope car.—Away: the wind and wave
“Flow, favouring thy departure: loose each sail,
“And shout along the main, “Yon world of waves,
“‘Jehovah, the Creator, spread it forth,
“‘Connecting every clime.’”
“I lead to realms where show'r and sunshine strive
“In emulous contest, genial both, which best
“Shall fertilise the soil, and gift its birth
“With grandeur, grace, and beauty. Nature, here,
“Knows not repose; on tendril, tree, and blade,
“Harvest succeeds to harvest: and the fruit
“That falls from the full branch, looks on the bud,
“Gay opening on the sunbeam. Bear from hence
“Your ivory palaces, and dow'r your brides
“With diamonds and rare gems. Behold yon woods
306
“Shall float your treasures, when the northern oak
“Droops, mouldering, on the sea-beach. Steersman! hence!
“Lo! down the southern signs the Lord of Day
“Speeds his slope car.—Away: the wind and wave
“Flow, favouring thy departure: loose each sail,
“And shout along the main, “Yon world of waves,
“‘Jehovah, the Creator, spread it forth,
“‘Connecting every clime.’”
Hence Commerce speeds
Her fleets proud tilting o'er the brine, and sweeps
From shore to shore; or, lock'd in marble ports,
Emporiums of the world, in festive joy,
With flute and trumpet, and symphonious voice,
'Mid banners, and beneath the painted shade
Of pennants and gay streamers, bids the main
Keep holiday, and the still wave give back
The brightness of their bravery.
Her fleets proud tilting o'er the brine, and sweeps
From shore to shore; or, lock'd in marble ports,
Emporiums of the world, in festive joy,
With flute and trumpet, and symphonious voice,
'Mid banners, and beneath the painted shade
Of pennants and gay streamers, bids the main
Keep holiday, and the still wave give back
The brightness of their bravery.
'Twas not thus
Of old, and time has been, on that wide sea
'Twas vacant all: all vacant: save amid
Th' expanse, one ark roll'd lonely; lonely roll'd
'Mid that wide sea. Voice then in human lip
None was, save heard of those within, whose pray'r
Was mingled with lament: of those within,
Sole remnant of a race, swept in their guilt
From being, and the earth which bore them, gone
With all its heritage. O'er these the wave
Had clos'd; and for the cry and confus'd stir
When nation after nation perish'd whole,
Silence and Solitude.—And on the Ark
Roll'd restless: and the tossing of that Deep
Was terrible, and terrible the roar
Of clashing elements: nor yet rent heav'n
Had ceas'd to pour down rain, nor yet the abyss
From every broken fountain to heave up
The Deluge: and the face of things was one—
A world of waters tempested. Oh, ye!
Who in the great Deep traffic, and implore
Its mercy, when the troubled ocean views
God in his sore displeasure, call to mind
The Patriarch, him, who o'er that delug'd world,
When the day saw no sun, the night no star,
Pass'd fearless, God his guide. On rolls the Ark:
And lo! from forth the multitude of clouds
The Angel of Omnipotence descends
In glory: underneath his foot, the world
Of waters peaceful lies, and o'er his brow
Radiant in opening heav'n th' ethereal arch,
Whose basis rests on ocean, brightly beams,
While, to adoring man, and earth restor'd,
The Angel, with uplifted arm, displays
The everlasting covenant, and shows
On that bright sign, that visible vow between
God and the world, the Maker and his works,
Justice and Mercy join'd.
Of old, and time has been, on that wide sea
'Twas vacant all: all vacant: save amid
Th' expanse, one ark roll'd lonely; lonely roll'd
'Mid that wide sea. Voice then in human lip
307
Was mingled with lament: of those within,
Sole remnant of a race, swept in their guilt
From being, and the earth which bore them, gone
With all its heritage. O'er these the wave
Had clos'd; and for the cry and confus'd stir
When nation after nation perish'd whole,
Silence and Solitude.—And on the Ark
Roll'd restless: and the tossing of that Deep
Was terrible, and terrible the roar
Of clashing elements: nor yet rent heav'n
Had ceas'd to pour down rain, nor yet the abyss
From every broken fountain to heave up
The Deluge: and the face of things was one—
A world of waters tempested. Oh, ye!
Who in the great Deep traffic, and implore
Its mercy, when the troubled ocean views
God in his sore displeasure, call to mind
The Patriarch, him, who o'er that delug'd world,
When the day saw no sun, the night no star,
Pass'd fearless, God his guide. On rolls the Ark:
And lo! from forth the multitude of clouds
The Angel of Omnipotence descends
In glory: underneath his foot, the world
Of waters peaceful lies, and o'er his brow
Radiant in opening heav'n th' ethereal arch,
308
While, to adoring man, and earth restor'd,
The Angel, with uplifted arm, displays
The everlasting covenant, and shows
On that bright sign, that visible vow between
God and the world, the Maker and his works,
Justice and Mercy join'd.
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