 | Wood-notes and Church-bells |  |
223
THE VISTA.
The tall trees of a pleasure-ground,
With crowded boles and branches high,
To right and left my prospect bound,
And intercept the sky:
With crowded boles and branches high,
To right and left my prospect bound,
And intercept the sky:
Save where amid the encircling green
A sudden vista pierces through
The umbrage, and far off is seen
The horizon's hazy blue.
A sudden vista pierces through
The umbrage, and far off is seen
The horizon's hazy blue.
There mighty Humber rolls along,
Diminished to a silver thread,
And, radiant with the light of song,
The dim wolds lift their head.
Diminished to a silver thread,
And, radiant with the light of song,
The dim wolds lift their head.
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Encroaching verdure, day by day,
Would veil the view with leafy folds,
And soon, untended, steal away
The water and the wolds.
Would veil the view with leafy folds,
And soon, untended, steal away
The water and the wolds.
But, day by day, a watchful eye
And ready hand restrain the green,
And still yon silver stream glides by,
Yon azure hills are seen.
And ready hand restrain the green,
And still yon silver stream glides by,
Yon azure hills are seen.
When worldly cares enclose me round,
And crowding duties, may I find,
And foster 'mid the narrowing bound,
A vista for the mind:
And crowding duties, may I find,
And foster 'mid the narrowing bound,
A vista for the mind:
Through which the light of song may shine,
And cheer me in life's barren ways
With ancient melodies divine,
And voice of later lays:
And cheer me in life's barren ways
With ancient melodies divine,
And voice of later lays:
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Through which the light of Heaven may pour
From the eternal hills, that gleam
In unimagined beauty o'er
The inevitable stream.
From the eternal hills, that gleam
In unimagined beauty o'er
The inevitable stream.
And thus earth's cares, which gather round,
Shall not confine the mental eye
Within this narrow plot of ground,
Or quite conceal the sky:
Shall not confine the mental eye
Within this narrow plot of ground,
Or quite conceal the sky:
And common duties will appear
To shine with a celestial ray,
Caught, through faith's vista, from the sphere
Of everlasting day!
To shine with a celestial ray,
Caught, through faith's vista, from the sphere
Of everlasting day!
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