Julia Alpinula :: :: University of Virginia Library

A tower stood near in sight, whose battled frieze
Sung to the wing and wildness of the breeze,
Where oft the sea-bird in its fear would hie,
When winds were up, and tempests swept the sky;
With clustering ivy were the loopholes hid;
Seaward the steep cliffs all access forbid;—
Poised on the boiling surf, it seemed to be
An island rock, or pillar of the sea.
But not on all sides beaten,—for to view
On one grey side, high clustering alders grew,
In florid verdure beautiful; the more
As Andron oft had watched their growth before;—
Hour after hour it was his wont to stand,
And watch the leaf a twig, the twig a wand,
The wand a graceful sapling in whose leaves
The small birds sang so sweet in summer-eves:—
The very leaves brought peace to him, they played
With such sweet interchange of light and shade,
And threw, when all was black and parched around,
Bright thoughts of freedom in their whispering sound—
In that quick sympathy of thought which finds
Love in the trees, rocks, waters, stars, and winds,

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So full with feeling that it must express
That love, or perish with its mute excess.