Madmoments: or First Verseattempts By a Bornnatural. Addressed to the Lightheaded of Society at Large, by Henry Ellison |
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MAN AND NATURE. |
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 | Madmoments: or First Verseattempts |  |
MAN AND NATURE.
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Thriceblessed Birds, for you the goodAnd bounteous God has spread
On every bough your daily food,
'Neath every leaf your Bed.
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Unfailingly at Evening 's-closeHe calls ye to the nest,
And o'er your peaceful slumber throws
The shadow of his rest.
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Ye who no vain selfwill opposeTo Nature's sovereign will,
Are, as at the first day's sweet close,
Blest in obedience still!
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The Grasshopper sleeps in the grass,And on him falls the Dew,
While sunny visions o'er him pass,
Steeped in his own Heartshue.
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And duly with the goldwinged Morn,God wakes in Love again
Each leafhid Bird, in heart reborn,
With not one Touch of pain!
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From his dank Wings he shakes the dew,Inheritor of bliss,
And Eye and Ear to him renew
All Joys that erst were his.
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But man, vain Man, by other lawsThan Nature gives is led,
And Custom with his spirit wars,
Until his heart be Dead.
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The lengthening shades of Eve in vainSteal o'er the eye of day,
And bid him from the toil refrain
Of Life's soulsoiling way.
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He lights his feverish, flickering Lamp,Tho' the blessed stars be shining,
And still Earth's grasp his Soul doth cramp,
And his thought is but repining!
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And when the Sun's cloudsevering rayIts golden path doth trace,
The Heartshade of the former day
Is thrown o'er Nature's face.
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The Bird is blesseder than he,For all he sees and hears
Is redolent of Joy and Glee,
And dimmed by no vain tears.
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The Grasshopper leaps in the sun,The fountain gushes bright,
And round its edge, the moss selfspun,
Rejoices in its might,
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Here all things love, and by their love,A common Joy they give,
The stars by one same Law still move,
And mutual Light receive.
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The Neighbour-Flowers mix their breath,Sweetening the common air,
The blooms selftwined in Nature's Wreath,
By Union grow more fair.
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But Man with man and self at War,Measures his days by strife,
And the Light which cometh from afar,
Fades off in this dim Life.
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The Flowers blossom in their SpringAnd leave good seed behind,
The Trees their fruits to ripeness bring,
Ass Nature has designed.
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But Man is withered ere his prime,He plucks his unripe Joys,
And for life's coming wintertime
No forethought he employs.
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Or if he taste a Momentsjoy,Unlike the Bird's, it is
But wrung from fancies that annoy,
The spectre of past bliss.
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It haunts him from the Days of yore,When like the Bird, He too,
Sporting, Heartfree, with Bell and Flower,
A Child of Nature grew.
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And as these visions Memory gives,He frets in Wishes vain,
Selfwarring with his thoughts he strives
To feel a Boy again.
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But gloomy Years rise up betweenThe Present and the Past,
And 'cross the Gulf, thro' dark mists seen,
Youth's Vision fades fullfast;
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Then on his Heart the Present throwsThe shadow of its gloom,
And bars the Heavenslight that flows
Upon us from the Tomb!
| Madmoments: or First Verseattempts | |