The Hope of the World and other poems by Charles Mackay |
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THE NYMPH OF SOLITUDE. |
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 | The Hope of the World and other poems |  |
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THE NYMPH OF SOLITUDE.
Why, Solitude, why hath the minstrel forsaken
The festive repast of the fair and the free?
Why leaves he the city,
The wise and the witty,
To roam thro' the woods in communion with thee?
“He flies from the board of the rich and the lovely,
He flies from the wiles of the proud and the vain,
Adown the wood stealing,
He comes to my shieling,
To gain back his peace and his wisdom again.”
The festive repast of the fair and the free?
Why leaves he the city,
The wise and the witty,
To roam thro' the woods in communion with thee?
“He flies from the board of the rich and the lovely,
He flies from the wiles of the proud and the vain,
Adown the wood stealing,
He comes to my shieling,
To gain back his peace and his wisdom again.”
Why, Solitude, why hath the maiden forsaken
Her couch for the shore of the desolate sea?
Why leaves she her pillow
To gaze on the billow?
What charms can she find in communion with thee?
“She roams all alone in the silence and darkness,
To think undisturb'd on her lover afar;
She seeks the lone shingle,
In sadness to mingle
Her sighs and her prayers for her absent Hussar.”
Her couch for the shore of the desolate sea?
Why leaves she her pillow
To gaze on the billow?
What charms can she find in communion with thee?
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To think undisturb'd on her lover afar;
She seeks the lone shingle,
In sadness to mingle
Her sighs and her prayers for her absent Hussar.”
Why, Solitude, why do the worn and the weary,
The sad and the sorrowful, fly to thy side?
With thee do they wander,
In sadness to ponder
O'er joys and o'er hopes which the world hath denied?
“Communion with man can but render them cunning,
Communion with Nature doth render them wise:
Adown the wood stealing,
They come to my shieling,
And find in my bosom the peace which they prize!”
The sad and the sorrowful, fly to thy side?
With thee do they wander,
In sadness to ponder
O'er joys and o'er hopes which the world hath denied?
“Communion with man can but render them cunning,
Communion with Nature doth render them wise:
Adown the wood stealing,
They come to my shieling,
And find in my bosom the peace which they prize!”
| The Hope of the World and other poems | |