Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse By the Rev. Robert Montgomery ... Third Edition--Revised and Enlarged |
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WHAT MANY HAVE FELT. |
 | Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse |  |
290
WHAT MANY HAVE FELT.
Life is still young, but not the world with me;
For where the freshness I was wont to see?
A bloom hath vanished from the face of things;
Nor more the Syren of enchantment sings
In sunny mead, or shady walk, or bower,
Like that which warbled o'er my youthful hour.
Let Reason laugh, or elder Wisdom smile
On the warm phantasies which youth beguile;
There is a pureness in that glorious prime
That mingles not with our maturer time.
All earth is brightened from a sun within,
As yet unshaded by a world of sin.
While mind and nature blendingly array
In light and love, whate'er our dreams survey;—
Though perils darken from the distant years,
They vanish, cloud-like, when a smile appears;
And the light woes that flutter o'er the mind
Are laughed away, as foam upon the wind.
Thou witching Spirit of a younger hour!
Did I not feel thee in thy fullest power?
Attest, ye glories! flashed from clouds and skies
On the deep wonder of adoring eyes,
As oft, school-free, I worshipped, lone and still,
The rosy sunset from some haunted hill;
Or oped my lattice, when the moonshine lay
In sleep-like beauty on the brow of day,
To watch the mystery of moving stars
Through ether gliding on melodious cars,
Or musing wandered, ere the hectic morn,
To see how beautiful the sun was born!
For where the freshness I was wont to see?
A bloom hath vanished from the face of things;
Nor more the Syren of enchantment sings
In sunny mead, or shady walk, or bower,
Like that which warbled o'er my youthful hour.
Let Reason laugh, or elder Wisdom smile
On the warm phantasies which youth beguile;
There is a pureness in that glorious prime
That mingles not with our maturer time.
All earth is brightened from a sun within,
As yet unshaded by a world of sin.
While mind and nature blendingly array
In light and love, whate'er our dreams survey;—
Though perils darken from the distant years,
They vanish, cloud-like, when a smile appears;
And the light woes that flutter o'er the mind
Are laughed away, as foam upon the wind.
Thou witching Spirit of a younger hour!
Did I not feel thee in thy fullest power?
Attest, ye glories! flashed from clouds and skies
On the deep wonder of adoring eyes,
291
The rosy sunset from some haunted hill;
Or oped my lattice, when the moonshine lay
In sleep-like beauty on the brow of day,
To watch the mystery of moving stars
Through ether gliding on melodious cars,
Or musing wandered, ere the hectic morn,
To see how beautiful the sun was born!
A reign of glory from my soul hath past,
And each Elysium proved mere Earth at last;
Yet mourn I not in mock or puling strain,
For joys are left which never beam in vain:—
The voice of friends, the changeless eye of love,
And, oh, that bliss all other bliss above,
To know, if shadow frown, or sunshine fall,
There is One Spirit who pervadeth all!
And each Elysium proved mere Earth at last;
Yet mourn I not in mock or puling strain,
For joys are left which never beam in vain:—
The voice of friends, the changeless eye of love,
And, oh, that bliss all other bliss above,
To know, if shadow frown, or sunshine fall,
There is One Spirit who pervadeth all!
And is that Fame, for which our feelings pine
With yearning fondness, not indeed divine?
Are lofty impulses of soul and sense,
Forever teaching her omnipotence,
A mimicry of fine emotions, born
From the gay wildness of a youthful morn?
Time, Truth, and Nature speak a nobler tale;
Her pomp may perish, and her brightness fail,
But all that verdure which the spirit laid
O'er the dry wilderness the world displayed,
In living freshness shall outbloom the hour,
And scatter earth with many a secret flower.
Oh! 'tis not fame to form the midnight show,
Where vice and vanity alike may go;
It is not fame, to hear the shallow prate
Of busy fondness, or intriguing hate,
To feast on sounds of patronizing pride,
And wring from dullness what the world denied,
A high-souled Nature is its own renown!
Whate'er the jewels that compose the crown.
For 'mid the barrenness of mortal strife,
And daily nothings of uneasy life,
The spirit thirsteth for a purer world;
O'er this the wings of fancy are unfurled;
Hence painter's hue and poet's dreams are brought,
And the rich paradise of blooming thought:
To quench that thirst, let heaven-born feelings flow,
Let genius wake! let inspiration glow!
Why thus we panted for a world like this
May form a knowledge in our future bliss.
With yearning fondness, not indeed divine?
Are lofty impulses of soul and sense,
Forever teaching her omnipotence,
A mimicry of fine emotions, born
From the gay wildness of a youthful morn?
Time, Truth, and Nature speak a nobler tale;
Her pomp may perish, and her brightness fail,
But all that verdure which the spirit laid
O'er the dry wilderness the world displayed,
292
And scatter earth with many a secret flower.
Oh! 'tis not fame to form the midnight show,
Where vice and vanity alike may go;
It is not fame, to hear the shallow prate
Of busy fondness, or intriguing hate,
To feast on sounds of patronizing pride,
And wring from dullness what the world denied,
A high-souled Nature is its own renown!
Whate'er the jewels that compose the crown.
For 'mid the barrenness of mortal strife,
And daily nothings of uneasy life,
The spirit thirsteth for a purer world;
O'er this the wings of fancy are unfurled;
Hence painter's hue and poet's dreams are brought,
And the rich paradise of blooming thought:
To quench that thirst, let heaven-born feelings flow,
Let genius wake! let inspiration glow!
Why thus we panted for a world like this
May form a knowledge in our future bliss.
There are some exquisite allusions to the philosophy of poetry, in “Schiller's Lectures on Dramatic Poetry;” and Bacon has comprehended in one eloquent paragraph a world of criticism—
e. g. Videtur Poësis hæc humanæ naturæ largire quæ Historia denegat; atque animo umbris rerum utcunque satisfacere ------ Firmum ex Poësi sumitur argumentum, magnitudinem rerum magis illustrem, ordinem magis perfectum, et varietatem magis pulchram animæ humanæ complacere, quam in naturâ ipsâ post lapsum reperire ullô modô possit ------ Adeo ut Poësis ista non solum ad delectationem, sed etiam ad animi magnitudinem et ad mores conferat.—De Aug. Scient, lib. ii. cap. 13.
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