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Poems by Bernard Barton

Fourth Edition, with Additions
 

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STANZAS.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


233

STANZAS.

O! who that has an eye to see,—
A heart to feel,—a tongue to bless;—
Can ever undelighted be
By Nature's magic loveliness?
The bright sun's animating beams,—
The pale moon's mild and pensive ray;
The living freshness of the streams;
The glories of a new-born day:—
The foliage of o'ershadowing trees,
Earth's verdant mossiness beneath;
The balmy odours of the breeze;
The silence of the lonely heath:
The matchless melody that swells
Upon the lonely loiterer's ear,—
From hum of bees in fox-glove bells,—
Or sky-lark's song in loftier sphere,—

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To those more solemn sounds that wake
The deeper chords of harmony,
Where Ocean's restless billows make
Wild music everlastingly!
Such Nature's charms! O why should vice
Unwisely, impiously destroy them!
Even this world were Paradise,
Would Man but virtuously enjoy them!