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University of Virginia Library

The Poetical Works of James Gates Percival

With a biographical sketch

Percival, James Gates (1795-1856)

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1.

THE DESERTED WIFE.

THE CORAL GROVE.

[I had found out a sweet green spot]

THE BROKEN HEART.

TO SENECA LAKE.

[O, had I the wings of a swallow, I'd fly]

THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AIR.

LIBERTY TO ATHENS.

THE GREEK EMIGRANT'S SONG.

ODE TO FREEDOM.

MENTAL HARMONY.

THE VILLAGE GIRL.

NIGHT WATCHING.

PLEASURES OF CHILDHOOD.

VOYAGE OF LIFE.

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM.

LOVE AT EVENING.

[Silent she stood before me, in the light]

[Star of the pensive! “melancholy star,”]

[“O, there is a bliss in tears!”—in tears that flow]

FLOWER OF A SOUTHERN GARDEN.

ROSE OF MY HEART.

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1.

[I. I stand upon the mountains, 'mid a sea]

2.

[II. Monarch of mountains! whose serenest brow]

3.

[III. My country,—at the sound of that dear name]

4.

[IV. Now to my task:—be firm,—the work requires]

5.

[V. Come forth, fair waters, from the classic spring]

6.

[VI. Farewell, sad flowers, that on a desert blow]

7.

[VII. Would I were but a spirit, veiled in light]

AN ODE TO MUSIC.

A TRIBUTE TO THE BRAVE.

THE SENATE OF CALLIMACHI.

A PLATONIC BACCHANAL SONG.

[Here's to her who wore]

TO THE HOUSTONIA CERULEA.

ON FINDING THE ANEMONE HEPATICA,

[A tulip blossomed, one morning in May]

[A lake once lay, where the thunder-clouds sail]

THE PARTING OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

“VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY.”

THE FAIREST ROSE IS FAR AWA'.

THE FLOWER OF THE VALLEY.

[Once, on a cloudless summer-day]

[My heart too firmly trusted, fondly gave]

[How beautiful is Night!]

[Often, when at night delaying]

THE LAND OF THE BLEST.

[My heart was a mirror, that showed every treasure]

[O, now's the hour, when air is sweet]

[O, wilt thou go with me, love]

[Here the air is sweet]

THE WANDERING SPIRIT.

FAREWELL TO MY LYRE.

[Care-worn, and sunk in deep despondency]

[Come on your sky-blue wings, ye Paphian doves!]

[Man is born to die]

['T was midnight,—and the full round moon]

[Thou art endeared to me by all]

THE FRENCHMAN'S DARLING.

[Adieu! fair flower, though frail]

[We met in cheerless hours, my dear]

[O, love was made to mourn]

TRANSLATION OF A LATIN ODE.

[O Evening! thou art lovely:—in thy dress]

[Empress of night! I saw thee through the rack]

[Star of the dewy morning! from thy sphere]

[Motherless infant, to the quiet sleep]

[Image of calm devotion, on thy brow]

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1.

[I. Winter is now around me, and the snow]

2.

[II. Its bitterness the heart alone can know]

3.

[III. What bird can sing when storms are in the sky]

4.

[IV. The blue heaven spreads before me, with its keen]

[Give the Warrior Chief his due]

[Hail to the land of the free and the bold]

[I saw the sun, at the dawning of day]

[Two flowers were budding on on stem]

[I found thee on an apple-tree]

[Sweet, sainted haunt of early days!]

[I saw, upon a mountain]

[I will go to the grave where my child has gone]

THE CARRIER PIGEON.

[These weeping skies, these weeping skies]

[Fair breaks the morning on my eye]

[Now the setting sun is glowing]

SONG OF THE REIM-KENNAR.

[The wave is resting on the sea]

[There's a valley that lies in the bosom of hills]

[I would follow the sun when the north winds arise]

THE PIRATE LOVER.

[Let us love while life is young]

[Thy charms are all decaying, love]

THE LUNATIC GIRL.

[Come to my heart, thou stricken deer!]

[O Mary, my dearest! though waves roll between us]

[Dove of my heart! I've built a nest]

[She has no heart, but she is fair]

[The winds of the winter are over]

[The dark cloud is over, the storm flies away]

[The frenzy of a lover who can tell?]

[They gazed upon each other. They were young]

[Beneath the pensive willow's shade]

PARAPHRASE OF ISAIAH XXXIV.

[In wisdom God hath made the world]

[There is an infant, pillowed sweetly]

S. M. A. M. FISHER.

CARMEN SECULARE.

[There is a calm lagoon]

[All live and move to the poetic eye.]

[I saw, on the top of a mountain high]

GENIUS SLUMBERING.

GREECE, FROM MOUNT HELICON.

THE SUNIAN PALLAS.

THE GREEK MOUNTAINEERS.

THE LAST SONG OF THE GREEK PATRIOT.

GRECIAN LIBERTY.

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2.

3.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF GREECE.

[She faded, but in beauty;—not a charm]

[She was the first I loved; but years had gone]

[He had a twofold nature, and the one]

THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

THE GRAVES OF THE PATRIOTS.

THE DESOLATE CITY.

MORNING AMONG THE HILLS.

THE PERPETUAL YOUTH OF NATURE.

THE FAIR ITALIAN.

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2.

3.

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1.

[I. If on the clustering curls of thy dark hair]

2.

[II. Oh! I could wish I sat upon yon cloud]

3.

[III. Thy form may fade, but thou wilt not all die]

4.

[IV. If, when I look on thee, and hear thy voice]

5.

[V. Calm look of gentleness!—I see thee now]

6.

[VI. Green herbs and flowers new opening, ye have known]

7.

[VII. O Love! thou art a pure and holy thing]

[When the woodlands are covered with leaves and flowers]

THE REIGN OF MAY.

TRUE GREATNESS.

[There is nothing can equal the tender hours]

[Dear moments of childhood! how sweetly ye smile]

[Come from thy home in the far blue sky]

[Thou hast come from thy home in the far blue sky]

[Soul of the lyre and song!]

[I looked on the broad setting sun]

[Thou glorious spirit of life and love!]

[Where hast thou been on thy rainbow wing]

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.

[Spirit of high and mighty souls!]

[Had I the pinions of an eagle's wing]

ON THE DEATH OF ---.

THE LAST DAYS OF AUTUMN.

THE SOUL OF SONG.

MORNING TWILIGHT.

[Where are now the flowers that once detained me]

SPIRIT OF MAY.

[Shall I gather the rose of the mountain]

TO A SHIP, ON GOING TO SEA.

APOSTROPHE TO THE ISLAND OF CUBA.

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2.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

[Every day I muse upon thee]

THE FLIGHT OF TIME.

FADING FLOWERS.

MOONLIGHT IN A WOOD.

MY NATIVE LAND.

WASHINGTON'S NAME.

THE GREEK SONG OF VICTORY.

BIRTHDAY OF LINNÆUS.

THE VOICE OF LOVE.

Ο ΚΟΣΜΟΣ.

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1.

[I. Is it not true, as one has proudly sung]

2.

[II. O thou sole-sitting Spirit of Loneliness]

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2.

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THE DREAM OF A DAY, AND OTHER POEMS. FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1843.

THE DREAM OF A DAY.

LAYS OF THE SEASONS.

THE LIGHT GUITAR.

THE VINTAGE DANCE.

TO A BUTTERFLY.

THE VOICE OF NATURE.

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1.

[I. O, there are moments, when the dreaming soul]

2.

[II. O Evening! I have loved thee with a joy]

3.

[III. O, there are tears of joy, and they are fed]

4.

[IV. O would that dreams were not the things they are]

5.

[V. Shadows of hoary forests, solemn haunts]

6.

[VI. My soul goes often wandering to your glooms]

7.

[VII. Am I not all alone? The world is still]

8.

[VIII. Deep sunk in thought, he sat beside the river]

9.

[IX. Whence? Whither? Where?—A taper point of light]

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[I. O Guadalaxara!]

2.

[II. Murmuring river]

3.

[III. Music and dances]

GREEK APPEAL TO AMERICA.

YOUTH RECALLED.

THE POET'S WORLD.

THE HEXLI. (LITTLE WITCH.)

THE POWER OF SONG.

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1.

[I. Mellow fades the glow of even]

2.

[II. Hark! the song]

3.

[III. Through the wood, in evening's shadow, straying]

4.

[IV. Speed thee far]

5.

[V. O that I lay on yonder mountain]

6.

[VI. They call me,—they call me, from meadow and grove]

7.

[VII. “O, rest thee here in silent bower]

8.

[VIII. The song is still, that over heath and mountain]

9.

[IX. Night is on the hill]

10.

[X. Bells are ringing]

11.

[XI. The snow is gone]

12.

[XII. Give me that fond music]

13.

[XIII. Morning is lightest]

14.

[XIV. 'T is dawn]

15.

[XV. Joy! Joy!]

16.

[XVI. Faintly breathes the maiden's song]

17.

[XVII. In sheeted gold the river glides]

18.

[XVIII. Sitting by a meadow brook]

19.

[XIX. How gentle the water's motion]

20.

[XX. The night is still:—on meadow and silvery fountain]

21.

[XXI. Over hill and plain and mountain]

22.

[XXII. From rock rebounding]

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1.

[I. Near Moskva's stream, through heath and forest gliding]

2.

[II. Inspiring Spirit! thou art everywhere]

3.

[III. What is that descending yonder mountain?]

4.

[IV. Still Spring returns, and scatters wide its roses]

5.

[V. By Muldava trips a rose-lipped maiden]

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2.

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1.

[I. Still burns the prophet's fire, as when of old]

2.

[II. Not the trumpet calls to fight]

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[I. Go forth, and ask no blessing on thy sword]

2.

[II. For faith and fame! be that the cry]

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1.

[I. Thou standest as a castle on a rock]

2.

[II. Vengeance calls you! quick, be ready]

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1.

[I. The rose now blooms,—with love my bosom heaves]

2.

[II. A holy feeling leads them on]

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THE WILD HUNTER.

THE HUNTER DEATH.

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1.

I. THE BOATMAN.

2.

II. WINTER EVENING.

3.

4.

[IV. O the days of blooming youth are gone]

5.

[V. O, how softly sweet the song is flowing]

6.

[VI. The night is dark; the hollow wind]

7.

[VII. O come, loved Spirit, come to me]

8.

[VIII. Wife! I am dying]

9.

10.

X. AWAKE, MY LYRE.

11.

XI. HUNTING SONG.

12.

13.

XIII. THE GERMAN EMIGRANT'S SONG.

14.

XIV. THE HARPER.

15.

[XV. That strain o' music greets my ear]

16.

[XVI. An' hae ye heard the bonnie birds]

17.

XVII. THE SPIRITS' LULLABY.

18.

[XVIII. Softly flow, thou gentle river]

19.

[XIX. Once I saw, in pride of beauty]

20.

[XX. Once, in the heart of a desert]

21.

[XXI. When the violet blows]

THE SISTER SPIRITS.

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CLASSIC MELODIES.

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[I. In the silence of night, and in solemn array, by the glimmer of torches, is wheeling]

2.

[II. O, waken the music of battle]

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1.

[I. Softly sweet the song is stealing, softly through the night afar]

2.

[II. Maids are sitting by the fountain]

3.

[III. See the bounding bark afloat]

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DACTYLIC HEXAMETER.

1.

2.

[II. Deep, 'mid the shades of night, I sink in silent repose]

3.

[III. Still, as in youth, ever green, the laurel of Homer is flourishing]

4.

[IV. Herald of earliest dawn! at thy smile the blue waters are stirring again]

DACTYLIC PENTAMETER.

DACTYLIC TETRAMETER.

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IAMBIC TETRAMETER.

1.

[I. Aurora rises o'er the hills, by graceful hours attended]

2.

[II. O, turn not, dearest, on me so!—I cannot bear that grief of thine]

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1.

[I. Bear me afar over the wave, far to the sacred islands]

2.

[II. When the blue wave sinks on the sea, and the still night hushes the deep]

CHORIAMBIC POLYSCHEMATIST.

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GLYCONIC AND PHERECRATEAN.

1.

[I. Hark! the echo of shout and song]

2.

[II. Bright ascends the festal dawn; bright the temple is flashing]

EUPOLIDEAN AND CRATINEAN.

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1.

[I. Not for wealth or for power, conquest or victory]

2.

[II. When the rose is in bloom, violets opening]

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SONGS FOR NATIONAL AIRS.

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1.

I. National Air.

2.

II. Mountain Air.

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1.

I. The Flower of Liberty.

2.

II. The Chain of Love.

3.

III. The Patriot.

4.

IV. Wealth of Soul.

5.

V. The Festive Evening.

6.

VI. Our Country.

7.

VII. Washington.

8.

9.

IX. The Banquet.

10.

11.

XI. The Seasons.

12.

XII. The Boatmen of the Rhine.

13.

XIII. Festivity.

14.

15.

XV. The Vintage.

16.

17.

18.

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1.

I. The Battle Call.

2.

[II. Think, O think, how much thou lov'dst me]

3.

III. The Willow.

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1.

I. Bird of the Mountain.

2.

II. The Bird that has lost its Young.

3.

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I. Homeward Bound.

2.

3.

III. The Lover's Lament.

4.

IV. Clan Donnal's Gathering.

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1.

[I. Of Hoel, high and glorious, raise the pæan ]

1.

I. The Song of Heroes.

2.

2.

II. The Bard's Song.

3.

III. The Song of Victory.

4.

IV. The Rising of the Lark.

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POSTHUMOUS POEMS.

MIDNIGHT MUSIC.

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JUVENILE POEMS.

AN ODE TO MELANCHOLY.

FRAGMENT OF AN ODE TO FANCY.

ODE TO RELIGION.

STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

TRUMPET OF LIBERTY.

[Day-star of Liberty! dawn on our sky]

SONNET TO ITALY.

THE DEATH OF LAWRENCE.

PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE.

[By the spirits of the dead]

[Adieu, my love, my Mary dear!]

HENRY AND MARY.

[Star of my heart! though far away]

[Star of my heart! thy light has gone]

[I thought I loved,—no form of earth]

[Is there a tear that scalds the cheek?]

[To see a dear one close her eyes]

[There is an hour, a heavenly hour]

['T is night,—but yet the moon is high]

THE LAMP OF LOVE.

THE GALLEY SLAVE.

ON THE DEATH OF MISS ---,

[Give me a lonely seat]

[How sweet is the turf on the grave of my friend]

[Rest, O my lyre! till the winter of sorrow]

[She's gone, the idol of my heart]

[When the winter of sorrow's keen tempests are blowing]

[When I roam o'er the fields at the opening of dawn]

[I was once happy and blest]

[Arabia may boast of its coffee-clad mountains]

[Dear little angel of my heart]

[Come, come away, unto the silent grove]

[One evening, when the sky was blue]

[I love the ruddy cheek, that glows]

[Who is that mourner bending o'er yon grave]

[See, how the clear, unsullied streamlet strays]

[I saw a flower of softest hue]

TO THE GENTIANA CRINITA,

[Can I touch my harp again?]

[Give me the lyre of harmony]

[My heart is sad, my harp is still]

[They say, that esteem is a diamond so bright]

['T is morning, and all is gay around]

[Why slumbers thy lyre, which so often resounded]

AN IMPRECATION.

[Methought 'twas in the desert, at the hour]

THE SUICIDE'S GRAVE.

ON MY FATHER'S TOMB.

[See how the floweret blushes in the morn]

[Slow, through the twilight gloom, Valerio's knell]

[Hard is the Poet's fate,—but more severe]

[The last blue hill is fading in the sky]

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I. THE ROSE-BUSH.

2.

3.

III. THE EYELID.

4.

[IV. Soft heaving wave, whose pure translucency]

5.

6.

7.

VII. TO THE GRAVE.

8.

[VIII. 'T is not the future dread that makes me shun]

9.

[IX. We think of what we might have been: the stream]

10.

[X. I too have seen thy ever-pouring flood]

11.

[XI. My hand is clasped upon my burning brow]

12.

XII. TO THE PIANO.

THE INTERLUDES OF TASSO'S AMINTA.

[O for a mantling bower hung by the loaded vine]

[High they raised the mast, and spread the white sail to the zephyr]

[The thirsty fields a robe of sadness wear]

[Here mossy fountains pour their cooling wave]

Happy old man! here, 'mid your well-known streams

1.

[I. Thou, who erst on Ætna's top]

2.

[II. The cypress, in its dark funereal dress]

3.

[III. The clouds are black in heaven, the roar of winds]

[Expand your snowy wings, ye swans of Helicon]

[How happy is the pure, good man, whose life]

[We have a body,—and its clamorous calls]

[Youth sees the world before him, and the path]

[The stream of life that flowed on Calvary]

[There is a world of mind, which few can know]

[He spake, and, springing from th' embattled ground]

[Malvacea calls her tribes around her throne]

[In endless contrariety has fled]

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SPIRIT OF MAY.

Welcome, thrice welcome, Spirit of May!
Blessings be round thy airy way;
Come, with thy train of rainbow hues,
Of hovering clouds and falling dews,—
Come to our garden beds and bowers,
And cover them over with leaves and flowers.
Already the summer bird is there,
And he sings aloud to the warm, warm air;
There he carols strong and free,
And his song and his joy are all for thee.

Come when the sparkling rivers run,
Full and bright, to the gladdening sun;
Come, when the grass and springing corn
In their newest and tenderest green are born;
When budding woods and tufted hills
Wake to the music of foaming rills,
As they rush from their fountains deep and strong,
And in calm and in sunshine roll along;
Come, when the soft and winning air
Tells us a quickening life is there.

Come to our bosoms, Spirit of May!
We would not be sad when the earth is gay;
Wake, in the heart that is newly strung,
The love that dwells with the fair and young;
Give, to their full and speaking eyes,
Visions that glitter like sunset skies;

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Waft them with quick and favoring gales,
Filling with music their glancing sails;
Theirs be a flight o'er a summer sea,
Where nothing of cloud or storm can be.

And give us, who long have bode the storm,
To feel for a moment our spirits warm;
Let the hopes, that once were a world of light,
Look out from our sorrows serene and bright,
Like stars that come forth from the midnight air,
When the cloud has passed and the sky is fair;
Give us awhile to forget our cares,
And be light as thy own enlivening airs;
Let feelings of childhood awake like flowers,
When they open to catch the falling showers.

Come from thy palace, Spirit of May!
Where flowers ever blossom and fountains play;
Bring with thee Plenty's brimming horn,
And the tears of evening and dews of morn;
Build thy throne in the clear, blue air,
And earth shall be bright, and heaven be fair,
And the winds that rushed from the rolling cloud,
And lifted their voices and called aloud,
Shall sink to a softer and mellower tone,
Like gales from a happy island blown.

Then the sea shall glow in its darkest bed,
And life shall revisit the mountain head;
And the valley shall laugh, and the forest ring,
For Joy shall be out on his glittering wing;
And the old shall pause, and the young shall stare,
As they hear his voice in the sunny air;
Glad shall their hearts and their spirits be,
When they know he is sent to tell of thee,—
To tell them, the Queen of Love and May
Is now on her bright, triumphal way.