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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.

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]

[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.

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.

[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]

[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]

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.

2.

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[My heart too firmly trusted, fondly gave]

My heart too firmly trusted, fondly gave
Itself to all its tenderness a slave;
I had no wish but thee, and only thee;
I saw no joy, no hope, beyond thy smile;
I knew no happiness, but only while
Thy love-lit eyes were kindly turned on me.

I took the tender image to my breast,
I made it there a dear, a cherished guest,
I laid it on the pillow of my soul;
I gave it all my feeling, and around
The fond idea all my heart-strings bound;
In that one point I blent my being's whole.

129

But thou hast gone, and left me here to bear
The weight of loneliness; thou thinkest not, where
Bright forms caress thee, of my bosom torn
By thee so coldly; but I cannot rend
Thy image from my heart, I cannot blend
Hate with the love so long, so fondly borne.

I feel my spirit falter, and my frame
Trembling and faint with weakness, but the flame
Of passion burns as brightly:—I will lay
My forehead on my pillow, and resign
My bosom to its torture, nor repine,
And let the fire consume my life away.