The Poetical Works of James Gates Percival :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Poetical Works of James Gates Percival

With a biographical sketch

Percival, James Gates (1795-1856)

[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]

RETROSPECTION.

CALM AT SEA.

THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AIR.

LIBERTY TO ATHENS.

THE GREEK EMIGRANT'S SONG.

PLEASURES OF CHILDHOOD.

[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]

VAUCLUSE.

LIGHT OF LOVE.

FLOWER OF A SOUTHERN GARDEN.

A TRIBUTE TO THE BRAVE.

THE SENATE OF CALLIMACHI.

A PLATONIC BACCHANAL SONG.

[Here's to her who wore]

DITHYRAMBIC.

THE SERENADE.

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 MERMAID.

LINES

THE PARTING OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

“VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY.”

THE FAIREST ROSE IS FAR AWA'.

THE FLOWER OF THE VALLEY.

LINES

[Once, on a cloudless summer-day]

[My heart too firmly trusted, fondly gave]

[How beautiful is Night!]

[Often, when at night delaying]

SONG.

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]

ANACREONTICS.

HORATIAN.

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

[Man is born to die]

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

NEW ENGLAND.

NAVAL ODE.

[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.

THE SABBATH.

[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]

A REVERIE.

[Motherless infant, to the quiet sleep]

[Image of calm devotion, on thy brow]

SONNETS.

MAID OF YEMEN.

FREEDOM.

[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.

THE FAREWELL.

[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.

RELIGION.

[In wisdom God hath made the world]

[There is an infant, pillowed sweetly]

HOLY DYING.

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]

SONNET.

GENIUS SLUMBERING.

GREECE, FROM MOUNT HELICON.

THE PARTHENON.

THE SUNIAN PALLAS.

THE GREEK MOUNTAINEERS.

THE LAST SONG OF THE GREEK PATRIOT.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF GREECE.

PAINTING.

MUSINGS.

[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]

INSCRIPTION.

A FRAGMENT.

THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

CLOUDS.

THE GRAVES OF THE PATRIOTS.

THE DESOLATE CITY.

MORNING AMONG THE HILLS.

THE PERPETUAL YOUTH OF NATURE.

[When the woodlands are covered with leaves and flowers]

SPRING.

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]

[Shall I gather the rose of the mountain]

TO A SHIP, ON GOING TO SEA.

APOSTROPHE TO THE ISLAND OF CUBA.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

[Every day I muse upon thee]

HOME.

THE GREEK SONG OF VICTORY.

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HOME.

My place is in the quiet vale,
The chosen haunt of simple thought;
I seek not fortune's flattering gale,
I better love the peaceful lot.

I leave the world of noise and show,
To wander by my native brook;
I ask, in life's unruffled flow,
No treasure but my friend and book.

These better suit the tranquil home,
Where the clear water murmurs by;
And if I wish awhile to roam,
I have an ocean in the sky.

363

Fancy can charm and feeling bless
With sweeter hours than fashion knows;
There is no calmer quietness,
Than home around the bosom throws.