 | Italy and Other Poems |  |
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
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“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.”
| Italy and Other Poems | |