University of Virginia Library

SONNETS.

No. I. RAINY MORNING.

On rush the blinding tempests of the North;
The heavy raindrops plash upon the roof,
Mournful; the drooping cattle, far aloof
From shelter, through dim valleys wander forth.
A moaning sound is heard among the woods,
A sound of desolation, dull and drear;
Downward and onward, with a prone career,
Rush, roaring to the sea, swoln mountain floods:
The sky is mantled with a joyless pall;
The sea o'erhung with mists; a lonely sail
Beats upward, tacking in the boisterous gale,
Which, like a tyrant, keeps it still in thrall.
The plover's wail is heard; and, on the sands,
Lonely, with dripping wings, the heron stands.

No. III. DAYS OF YORE.

There is a mystery on departed things,
Which renders distance beautiful! no more
The alchemist, with crucible and ore,
To light miraculous invention brings!—
No more, at eve, wrapt up in sabled gown,
(What time the babe sets out on life's career,)
Gazing on night, the sage astrologer
Notes every planetary aspect down:
The hooded monk, no more in fretted aisle
Sequester'd, ponders o'er his massy tome,
As, through the stained glass, the sunbeams roam
Upon his wall, with many-colour'd smile:
Romance is passing from us all the while,
Witchcraft, and sheeted ghost, and haunted dome!

No. IV. THE SCHOOL BANK.

Upon this bank we met, my friend and I.
A lapse of years had, intervening, pass'd,
Since I had heard his voice, or seen him last;
The starting tear-drop trembled in his eye;
Silent, we thought upon the school-boy days
Of mirth and happiness, for ever flown;
When rushing out the careless crowd did raise
Their thoughtless voices—now, we were alone,
Alone, amid the landscape—'twas the same:
Where were our loved companions? some, alas!
Silent reposed beneath the churchyard grass,
And some were known, and most unknown, to Fame;
And some were wanderers on the homeless deep;
And where they all were happy—we did weep!

No. V. TO THE EVENING STAR.

Dimly around the shades of evening lower;
The winds are pillow'd, and the waves asleep;
Still are the woods; their shadows, dim and deep,
Rest on the waters; 'tis a solemn hour!
An orange flush pervades the western tent,
Waning to faintness; while, with flag unfurled,
Resplendent Star! in southern firmament,
Thou look'st from Twilight's watch-tower o'er the world.
Thou art serenely beautiful, and peace
Dwells with thee, herald of the star-eyed night.
Often, when daylight's busy murmurs cease,
Amid the dewy fields I take delight
To stray, and when the heaven from cloud is free,
Muse on the past, and fix my gaze on thee!

No. VI. DECAY OF CHIVALRY.

The poetry of life hath pass'd away,
And men become tame citizens; here and there
Lifting their battlements through liquid air,
Rise castled cliffs, majestic in decay;
A solemn grandeur wraps the dark Abbaye;
And, as we gaze, the pomp of former times
Wakens, with glow that raises and sublimes
Our souls bow'd down to suit the passing day!—
These are thy monuments, lost Chivalry,
Thy tombstones, for the spirit long hath fled;
What have we in thy stead?—Affections cold;
Feelings to generous emulation dead;
The grasping hand; dull heart; and stony eye;
Body, and mind, and soul, to Mammon sold!