The hurricane a theosophical and western eclogue. To which is subjoined, a solitary effusion in a summer's evening. By William Gilbert |
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 | The hurricane |  |
Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
Favete linguis: Carmina non prius
Audita, Musarum Sacerdos
Virginibus puerisque canto.
Hor. Lib. III. Od. I.
Favete linguis: Carmina non prius
Audita, Musarum Sacerdos
Virginibus puerisque canto.
Hor. Lib. III. Od. I.
THE HURRICANE.
CANTO I.
Near where with Tropic heats bright Cancer glows,
And sun beams glitter with perennial force,
Girt with the azure wave an Island lies,
Called by the Spaniards ANTIENT Its breadth is
Measured by the eye; which, still unsatisfied,
Strikes far beyond the reach of land, Northward
When turned. Its utmost length doubles it's breadth.
And sun beams glitter with perennial force,
Girt with the azure wave an Island lies,
Called by the Spaniards ANTIENT Its breadth is
Measured by the eye; which, still unsatisfied,
Strikes far beyond the reach of land, Northward
When turned. Its utmost length doubles it's breadth.
Islands, faint seen among the adjacent seas,
Bearing their various headlands in the wave,
A social and romantic scene disclose:
They give the wing for amplest thought to range
On all the mighty wonders of the world!
Scenes undiscovered, uncreate to man,
E'er distant Europe's energetic arm
Ploughed up the vasty ocean to their base;
And still, with art miraculous, detects
Their sunny ports through many a pathless league.
Bearing their various headlands in the wave,
A social and romantic scene disclose:
10
On all the mighty wonders of the world!
Scenes undiscovered, uncreate to man,
E'er distant Europe's energetic arm
Ploughed up the vasty ocean to their base;
And still, with art miraculous, detects
Their sunny ports through many a pathless league.
Ah! here, Columbus, with the din of war,
Broke the mild concords of the Mermaid's shell;
Who, mild, at evening, in the glassy wave,
Joined with the Genii of the neighbour shores,
To sing of Love as spotless as the sky,
And as their ocean clear; bounteous as airs
Wafting full fragrance from the thornless grove
Complicate of sweets, diffusing transport;
And the realm of Love, and Health extatic,
Spread, unjealous, round. Then the glowing sons
Of this mature and Occidental Sun,
(Not less than Memnon, whom Aurora bore
To Eastern mornings; and whose grateful harp
Spontaneous echoed to the rising day)
To bolder measures led the exalting strain;
And, fired with all the radiance of their sire,
Poured elemental music from their strings—
Till Hell's dread discords from dark Europe broke:
Then the Mermaid to her deeps shot rapid:
Trembling she lay—but safe; and long concealed
From haunts of war. Soon many and many
A son of earth plunged after her, and she gave
A coral sepulchre and tears of heart;
While armied spirits formed, in Fire and Earth
And Air and Seas a phalanx of avengers:
Who far from Europe and it's bodied forms,
Survived Immortal, Vengeful and Creative.
Expelled, these Sons of Virgin Light retired
Or to refulgent air or terrene depths.
In subterranean vaults where ocean roars
Terror and dread to European hearts,
They hold consult with Genii of the deep,
With placid Mermaids, (who preserve the keys
Of coral tombs; till from their safeguard called,
To repossess once more their hallowed seats,
Forgotten bodies startle the dull world
And take their own from myriads aghast)
With all the good and great of all the world—
The many-murdered Innocence of Ind
Or East or West—and their Avengers great—
However named—in sweet alliance leagued,
Whose fount is God, whose end and stream is bliss.
Broke the mild concords of the Mermaid's shell;
Who, mild, at evening, in the glassy wave,
Joined with the Genii of the neighbour shores,
To sing of Love as spotless as the sky,
And as their ocean clear; bounteous as airs
Wafting full fragrance from the thornless grove
Complicate of sweets, diffusing transport;
And the realm of Love, and Health extatic,
Spread, unjealous, round. Then the glowing sons
Of this mature and Occidental Sun,
11
To Eastern mornings; and whose grateful harp
Spontaneous echoed to the rising day)
To bolder measures led the exalting strain;
And, fired with all the radiance of their sire,
Poured elemental music from their strings—
Till Hell's dread discords from dark Europe broke:
Then the Mermaid to her deeps shot rapid:
Trembling she lay—but safe; and long concealed
From haunts of war. Soon many and many
A son of earth plunged after her, and she gave
A coral sepulchre and tears of heart;
While armied spirits formed, in Fire and Earth
And Air and Seas a phalanx of avengers:
Who far from Europe and it's bodied forms,
Survived Immortal, Vengeful and Creative.
Expelled, these Sons of Virgin Light retired
Or to refulgent air or terrene depths.
In subterranean vaults where ocean roars
12
They hold consult with Genii of the deep,
With placid Mermaids, (who preserve the keys
Of coral tombs; till from their safeguard called,
To repossess once more their hallowed seats,
Forgotten bodies startle the dull world
And take their own from myriads aghast)
With all the good and great of all the world—
The many-murdered Innocence of Ind
Or East or West—and their Avengers great—
However named—in sweet alliance leagued,
Whose fount is God, whose end and stream is bliss.
These peaceful murmurs and these pure consults
Of nearing Bliss, speak thunder to the North.
They give prognostic to the fear-worn ears
Of list'ning usurpers of their fertile clime,
In sounds unscanned, of pondered Hurricanes;
When they remount on air triumphant, joined
With dread auxiliars riding on the wave,
And shew their greatness—over pale Europe's
Miniatures of winds! Reigning superior
To their victors mean, as in fost'ring Peace
So in black War's rude crash; as in melody,
Just in great discords, throughout all the maze
Of involute, transversive harmony,
Till they repoise the scale in tonal Peace;
Victors on Europe, witherers of her might!
For their's are Nature's powers; Elemental strength
Springs in their nerves, to artificial or
Cold Europe's man unknown; and at the Fount
Divine they drink pursuant of the stream:
They hence are keenly sentient of all truth:
Familiar, hence, is bold Emprize; easy,
Hence, Atchievement, that to Europe's upward
Navigation is impractical and mad.
Of nearing Bliss, speak thunder to the North.
They give prognostic to the fear-worn ears
Of list'ning usurpers of their fertile clime,
In sounds unscanned, of pondered Hurricanes;
When they remount on air triumphant, joined
13
And shew their greatness—over pale Europe's
Miniatures of winds! Reigning superior
To their victors mean, as in fost'ring Peace
So in black War's rude crash; as in melody,
Just in great discords, throughout all the maze
Of involute, transversive harmony,
Till they repoise the scale in tonal Peace;
Victors on Europe, witherers of her might!
For their's are Nature's powers; Elemental strength
Springs in their nerves, to artificial or
Cold Europe's man unknown; and at the Fount
Divine they drink pursuant of the stream:
They hence are keenly sentient of all truth:
Familiar, hence, is bold Emprize; easy,
Hence, Atchievement, that to Europe's upward
Navigation is impractical and mad.
14
Deep in these Caverns, or in Air sublime
A long abode they held; but never slept:
Secure—that Europe dreamed not, or dreaming,
Dared not search for Life in principles of Life,
The ethereal sense and fire's elastic beam.
They rallied, time by time, Their scattered bands,
With antient concords on their still-tuned harps;
Which, momently, the favoured ear might catch,
At silent dawning in the Zenith Air;
And feel the high seraphic rapture trill,
As the sweet sounds evolved a maze of song—
A song replete with all that Egypt knew,
Or close Eleusis taught her pious youth.
A long abode they held; but never slept:
Secure—that Europe dreamed not, or dreaming,
Dared not search for Life in principles of Life,
The ethereal sense and fire's elastic beam.
They rallied, time by time, Their scattered bands,
With antient concords on their still-tuned harps;
Which, momently, the favoured ear might catch,
At silent dawning in the Zenith Air;
And feel the high seraphic rapture trill,
As the sweet sounds evolved a maze of song—
A song replete with all that Egypt knew,
Or close Eleusis taught her pious youth.
Here too I sat with them enwrapt, though open;
Till now the concert hastens to a close,
And all our War is out! Bold and more quick
The countervailing Discords now We sound
And ply the terrible Antistrophe,
With fearful Justice and closed Harmony
Full on Europe, who ghastly sinks to Hell!
Till now the concert hastens to a close,
And all our War is out! Bold and more quick
The countervailing Discords now We sound
15
With fearful Justice and closed Harmony
Full on Europe, who ghastly sinks to Hell!
The Genius of the West is High, and rides
Swiftly on the bold and regulated
Pinion of the Atlantic Wind. His race is won.
His burning wheels run on the rolling floods!
He has not other climes to visit. New
To the world in Afric's Morning; and in
Asia's Noon but just reflecting rays
Feeble and broken on European snows—
He challenged no return who made no gift.
But now though Europe his descending beams
Have all diffused their lustre; and at length,
Fresh and resplendent in the Western sky,
He sums up all his Justice and his Strength;
Kindles his orient and meridian blaze
Clear as in Asia, as in Afric bold;
Displays as lucid purple on his throne,
And summons all the Honors of the World.
No lingering twilight in the proud-robed WEST
Shews indecision in the Paths of Day!
But each must grasp the single hour of Light,
Or lose for ever, and in darkness die.
Swiftly on the bold and regulated
Pinion of the Atlantic Wind. His race is won.
His burning wheels run on the rolling floods!
He has not other climes to visit. New
To the world in Afric's Morning; and in
Asia's Noon but just reflecting rays
Feeble and broken on European snows—
He challenged no return who made no gift.
But now though Europe his descending beams
Have all diffused their lustre; and at length,
Fresh and resplendent in the Western sky,
He sums up all his Justice and his Strength;
Kindles his orient and meridian blaze
Clear as in Asia, as in Afric bold;
16
And summons all the Honors of the World.
No lingering twilight in the proud-robed WEST
Shews indecision in the Paths of Day!
But each must grasp the single hour of Light,
Or lose for ever, and in darkness die.
It is not till receding to the point,
Whence, from the lofty Zenith's blazy height,
Again he darts, with generous force intense,
His arrows vertical; as with quickened march,
He hastens to relume the Southern World,—
That his indignant and protected Sons
Sweep on the Isles commissioned Hurricanes.
Whence, from the lofty Zenith's blazy height,
Again he darts, with generous force intense,
His arrows vertical; as with quickened march,
He hastens to relume the Southern World,—
That his indignant and protected Sons
Sweep on the Isles commissioned Hurricanes.
Now e'er description bid the tempest pour,
Retire We to the bower of Love and feel
The blaze of Beauty. 'Tis the hour of Noon:
Tokens have caused an awful expectation:
The Calm; diamond-bright, pellucid, ether;
The cavern murmuring to the troubled wave—
Give note unerring of the big Event.
Retire We to the bower of Love and feel
The blaze of Beauty. 'Tis the hour of Noon:
Tokens have caused an awful expectation:
17
The cavern murmuring to the troubled wave—
Give note unerring of the big Event.
And who will join me in this safe Recess?
Come Love's and Nature's offspring pure, whoe'er
Or whence thou art! For thou art mine, I know:
Come Fancy's sweetest Child! For I am thine
Through the contrasted changes of my Life!
Swift let me lead thee tender, and fearful,
Or of the wild blast, or the madman's touch,
Assiduous for that calm and full Recess,
To Indian Groves of aromatic breath,
To spicy Thickets and to ample flowers
Redolent of every various sweet that glows
Beneath the beams of Heaven's Eternal Sun!
Thence, in the house, careless of every blast,
Fixt on the Rock whose Quarry gave its Walls,
And whose Foundations are the central Earth,
We'll smile contempt on every fear around.
Come Love's and Nature's offspring pure, whoe'er
Or whence thou art! For thou art mine, I know:
Come Fancy's sweetest Child! For I am thine
Through the contrasted changes of my Life!
Swift let me lead thee tender, and fearful,
Or of the wild blast, or the madman's touch,
Assiduous for that calm and full Recess,
To Indian Groves of aromatic breath,
To spicy Thickets and to ample flowers
Redolent of every various sweet that glows
Beneath the beams of Heaven's Eternal Sun!
Thence, in the house, careless of every blast,
Fixt on the Rock whose Quarry gave its Walls,
18
We'll smile contempt on every fear around.
Before the Tempest darken on the Isle,
We'll view the little Archipelago,
That raise their pleasant banks and slope their beach
Around their parent Isle.
We'll view the little Archipelago,
That raise their pleasant banks and slope their beach
Around their parent Isle.
Green Island, first,
Excels in verdure, and to listlessness
And summer pleasure spreads the cocoa shade.
Pelican Island on the North-East lies;
Whose shelving shore, or here presents the cool,
Sequestered spot for bathing; or covered o'er
With beauteous shells of every gaudy tinge,
Invites the mind, that springs to Nature's charms,
Or loves to class what she diffusely throws.
These, with Long Island, and that Isle whose name
The Guana, found in multitudes, imparts;
Successive open to the glad eager eye
Of mariner, now lightly concluding
A long Voyage with Bliss, and down the Northern coast,
Rocky, but pleasant, as his business calls,
With steady breeze and unreefed topsails, sailing.
But far more extacied with all the scene
Is that gay Girl, or this impetuous Youth,
Who, long estranged from early blisses sweet
And all the transports of their infant years,
In search of Learning radiant, or the dance,
Greet joyous now, the pleasant Isle, that holds
Their Friends, their Parents, and (if virtue warm
The feeling bosoms of their race and them)
The orphaned train, whose daily sweat has won
The Pride and Pleasure which exalts them now;
But whom Diviner Justice soon will teach,
That the same hand which sowed, shall reap the field:
And that, which reaps, uninjured, shall enjoy.
Excels in verdure, and to listlessness
And summer pleasure spreads the cocoa shade.
Pelican Island on the North-East lies;
Whose shelving shore, or here presents the cool,
Sequestered spot for bathing; or covered o'er
With beauteous shells of every gaudy tinge,
Invites the mind, that springs to Nature's charms,
Or loves to class what she diffusely throws.
These, with Long Island, and that Isle whose name
The Guana, found in multitudes, imparts;
19
Of mariner, now lightly concluding
A long Voyage with Bliss, and down the Northern coast,
Rocky, but pleasant, as his business calls,
With steady breeze and unreefed topsails, sailing.
But far more extacied with all the scene
Is that gay Girl, or this impetuous Youth,
Who, long estranged from early blisses sweet
And all the transports of their infant years,
In search of Learning radiant, or the dance,
Greet joyous now, the pleasant Isle, that holds
Their Friends, their Parents, and (if virtue warm
The feeling bosoms of their race and them)
The orphaned train, whose daily sweat has won
The Pride and Pleasure which exalts them now;
But whom Diviner Justice soon will teach,
That the same hand which sowed, shall reap the field:
And that, which reaps, uninjured, shall enjoy.
20
Around Us here, while all was tempered Peace,
Pleasing although illusive and unjust;
The balmy trade-wind breathed refreshing airs,
And blew salubrious to the toil-worn slave.
Pleasing although illusive and unjust;
The balmy trade-wind breathed refreshing airs,
And blew salubrious to the toil-worn slave.
The Eastern shore receives the welcome gale;
And leads to caverns, or the brow of rocks,
To gravel banks with glittering shell-fish strewed,
To deep-green mangrove, or the shadowing branch
Of lofty cedar droping blossoms white,
That tremble as they fall and meet the wave
Progressive to their root. Here, oft, at even,
When lengthening shadows to the calmy wave
Shot dubious twilight and alluring gloom,
I sat contemplative; and viewed the breeze
Chequer the water with far-streaming light,
That glistened as with gems: I sat and thought
Ambition was a folly; glory, madness;
And all the hopes attending various man
Were robbers of his rest: I thought, that Love
Was all the sum indulgent Heaven e'er made
To constitute his bliss. I thought so and was blest.
And leads to caverns, or the brow of rocks,
To gravel banks with glittering shell-fish strewed,
To deep-green mangrove, or the shadowing branch
Of lofty cedar droping blossoms white,
That tremble as they fall and meet the wave
Progressive to their root. Here, oft, at even,
When lengthening shadows to the calmy wave
Shot dubious twilight and alluring gloom,
I sat contemplative; and viewed the breeze
Chequer the water with far-streaming light,
That glistened as with gems: I sat and thought
Ambition was a folly; glory, madness;
And all the hopes attending various man
21
Was all the sum indulgent Heaven e'er made
To constitute his bliss. I thought so and was blest.
For four long days a calm through nature reigned;
A calm as dead as ever struck the deep;
As ever marked the silent air with awe,
Or stilled the leaf high trembling, on the bough.
The fifth at eve to my accustomed haunt,
Along the shadow of a Cocoa Grove,
Down to the beach I strolled. The setting sun
Was dyed with crimson; and the full-orbed moon,
That palely rose above the dusky arch,
Was deeply burred. Settled, encreasing, black,
With jagged clouds, voluminous and deep,
Scudded along the Northern verge of ocean,
And a long labouring swell hove the large
Billow lifeless on the shore, while adverse clouds
In dark battalia swiftly met in air.
A calm as dead as ever struck the deep;
As ever marked the silent air with awe,
Or stilled the leaf high trembling, on the bough.
The fifth at eve to my accustomed haunt,
Along the shadow of a Cocoa Grove,
Down to the beach I strolled. The setting sun
Was dyed with crimson; and the full-orbed moon,
That palely rose above the dusky arch,
Was deeply burred. Settled, encreasing, black,
With jagged clouds, voluminous and deep,
Scudded along the Northern verge of ocean,
And a long labouring swell hove the large
Billow lifeless on the shore, while adverse clouds
In dark battalia swiftly met in air.
22
Just where the horizon bends to meet the wave,
Within the farthest reach of human ken,
A Sail appeared. The mild ray far beaming
From the Western Sun glanced on her canvas,
And beheld it spread before the rising breeze.
The rising breeze far from the Northward moved,
Ruffling along, and blackened as it came.
The affrighted plover from its blast retired;
The lizard nestled in the watchman's hut,
And heavy, awful, gloom poured deepening on.
Soon reigning darkness o'er Creation drew
The deep-black curtain of involving night:
The tempest thickened; and the dark wind howled
Encreasing horrors and sublimer blasts
Heavy the deep-hung atmosphere along.
Retired as soon as straws around me felt
The wind, I, hence, enjoyed in silent peace
The rending gale. But, ever and anon,
Some crash of trees or noise of swift destruction
Met my ear. Soon the expected signals of
Distress roll through the heavy storm; the wind
Almost suppressed the deep-mouthed sound it bore.
Reiterate at rapid intervals,
The guns were heard, and oftimes joined the thunder.
The firing ceased. The aggravated storm rode
Wide and unrivalled through the midnight air.
All else was silence.
Within the farthest reach of human ken,
A Sail appeared. The mild ray far beaming
From the Western Sun glanced on her canvas,
And beheld it spread before the rising breeze.
The rising breeze far from the Northward moved,
Ruffling along, and blackened as it came.
The affrighted plover from its blast retired;
The lizard nestled in the watchman's hut,
And heavy, awful, gloom poured deepening on.
Soon reigning darkness o'er Creation drew
The deep-black curtain of involving night:
The tempest thickened; and the dark wind howled
Encreasing horrors and sublimer blasts
Heavy the deep-hung atmosphere along.
Retired as soon as straws around me felt
The wind, I, hence, enjoyed in silent peace
The rending gale. But, ever and anon,
Some crash of trees or noise of swift destruction
23
Distress roll through the heavy storm; the wind
Almost suppressed the deep-mouthed sound it bore.
Reiterate at rapid intervals,
The guns were heard, and oftimes joined the thunder.
The firing ceased. The aggravated storm rode
Wide and unrivalled through the midnight air.
All else was silence.
24
CANTO II.
Fresh from the roaring of the darksome wind,Peace for a moment, draw thy mantle round,
Hushing disordered Nature; while rapid
Humanity and Love disperse their beams,
To light the houseless exile to my home,
Before the Hurricane confirm his waste.
Brothers in Vengeance! For one moment's pause
I yield you Nature till the golden morn,
And claim from none, to stay your shivering hand!
While yet o'er all the solemn stillness reigned,
Instant relief, in all directions sent,
The nearest wanderers found, and safely housed.
25
And her preserved with life to Bliss I sing—
If not with metral pomp on harp sublime,
Yet to the youthful heart and virgin's ear.
'Twas where the sound of guns had marked a wreck,
My own selected path I took, in search
Of objects breathing from the Eastern storm.
Wild and tremendous was the nightly sky:
The clouds involved in vast confusion, deep
And ripening still for action, ascended
Swiftly from the South and West. Exhausted
To the East they thinned, and nearly oped there
The lowering sky; where, dimly seen, one star
Glimmered on night's dull brow, and then was hid.
Pale twilight from the shrouded moon discovered
Shattered Nature; and, as we neared the dreadful
Sounding ocean, large torches held aloft
26
Ocean, why in darkness hid, sounds so deep
Your midnight roar? Clouds, enclosing warring
Winds, why so solemn flit ye o'er? Tell me
All your mighty ravage! Hear I not some
Female shriek now faintly sighing on the
Wings of night? Straightly appeared a gleam of
White before us. Advancing quickly forward,
We saw, on near approach, the tattered sail
Of a ship driven by billows over shelves
Of rocks, high up the creek, and lodged on shore.
Around, no form of life was seen. 'Twas ravage.
No hand remained. The Tempest was her pilot,
And the mighty arm, that winged the ruin.
Hung o'er the side, female attire we found
In shreds; it's owner sought in vain, was lost.
Within with speed through every hold we search,
And cabin. The first were empty. The last
Repaid my zeal; for here I found, softly
27
Divine. Waked by the noise and lights, her eyes,
As on I came, returned the beams of mine.
With hurried speed she said
Elmira.
Where is my mother?
And the captain? How glad I am, that they
Directed you to me!
I.
'Twas no direction
But our own. Come quick thou mildly-beaming
Angel-form with me—The moments stay not—
And I'll lead thee into peace and safety.
28
Where is my mother gone? And are we yet
In England?
I
No: with truest Friends you are.
I placed Her in an idle hammaque near,
Which, held by Negroes, bore her gently on.
And as we went, I aimed, with tenderest talk
To cheer the droopy maid; who, not reluctant
Seemed, to solace: for to Sea unused, young
And innocent, she knew not the dangers
She had passed; but hearing English spoke, and
Dreaming nought of strangers, having sunk to sleep
Among accustomed friends, supposed herself
Still known. Simply eloquent, she told me,
29
How, being still at length, she hugged her couch,
Rocked by the winds and seas to dead repose,
Till thence awoke by me. So infant spirits,
Who wing their animating flight of Death
In pleasing slumbers from their mother's arms,
Alight unknowing on celestial ground:
Then press with firmy step the flowery path,
Nor dream of serpents they have never known;
Embrace with smiles their first angelic Friend,
And ope the little treasure of their hearts:
Thus sweet Elmira told her gentle tale,
And lit each generous ardour in my breast.
At home arrived and entering at the East—
For now all entrance from the West was barred—
She looked and asked—
30
Where is my mother's room?
Or where is she? I want to sleep again:
For you removed me when but half awake.
What is this country?
I.
A country tis, where—
Daughters and mothers seldom live together.
Elmira.
Why not?
I.
They cannot. Young with young, and old
With old together dwell, where you are now.
31
Where you can never follow. The distance
Is but small; yet bad the road, and water
Lies between you. She begs you here to rest,
Till, with a few days use, you like the place.
You will command whatever you may see,
And all this house is your's. All varied pleasure
Shall attend the varied day. The morning
Breeze luxuriant shall be your's in this saloon,
Or in the Orange and Acacia shade;
Where flower or fruit alike regale your taste.
For you shall noon pour tranquil splendour wide,
Not unaired, nor void of rich aroma;
For shrubs that love to drink his ray and live,
Will skreen it from Elmira. The purple
Sorrel-Nectar high, or milk of Cocoa Nut
You then shall drain; and in its sportive shade
Hearken the breeze race on it's rising stem.
Evening shall bear us to the Thicket Shade:
32
And when we see the peaceful breast of ocean
Just rippled over with the wildring breeze,
We'll then descend the beach; and, pleased, inhale
The freshest breath of genial air that blows;
Or snuff the showers collecting in the East
To cool the atmosphere and green the earth.
Elmira.
But, will my mother never come? I long
To tell her of those pleasant things.
I.
Better
Enjoy them first and know them true yourself.
Then, sweet companions of your sex and age
Will join your walk and mix their joys with your's;
33
From Nature's face, and beam it in their eyes;
While with extatic smiles you hail the scene,
And eager tell, what various pleasures swell.
Elmira.
Will none else be with us?
I.
I when you please,
Will join my sweet Elmira and her Friends.
Elmira.
I shall always please.
34
And all secured against the wind stern rising,
I pressed refreshment on my travelled guest,
Who well enjoyed the delicate repast
Of viands flavoured new and cooling drinks.
Full easily she believed herself brought
By design to this so happy spot: and sure
She deemed aright—It was her God's design:
Only she thought from God and not from man.
Think still, sweet maid, the same! No reasoner
Shall e'er disturb thy God's domain in thee!
Still from the same pure fountain thou shalt drink!
Still, in the Light Divine shalt thou see light.
Meanwhile the Tempest turned has rouzed his rage,
And blows on Europe unrelenting fury:
The rain, in spreading sheets, comes whelming down
And forms a flood. Nor man, nor beast, nor house
Unfounded on a rock, sustained the assault
35
The thunder in tremendous vollies deep:
Now all the soul of Hurricane was poured,
Infuriate raging with the waste of sea.
Through earth or ocean God's own hand upreared
Quickly destroyed all the destructible:
Well sheltered on the West, we felt it less,
But heard it more. The hard rain loud battering
The shingled roof surprized my lovely guest;
Who doubted if she were not still afloat:
But soon assured and soon resigned to Peace,
For her's was bliss innate and incorrupt,
And eager on her novel hopes of life,
She softly sank to beatific sleep.
With rising morn the wind subsides: The clouds
Fly lighter and to higher air sublime,
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Resumed is balmy; and Creation lives.
The Wreck we next examine: There, nor man,
Nor boat is found: A mile to leeward shews
The wreck of both: A Female washed on shore
Proclaims Elmira's mother. But from her
The tragic fact is hid.
She broods no tempest
Who conceals no guilt. No mean lust of gain
Propelled Elmira; nor guilt-infected hopes
Taught her the fear of ill, or yet, to fly
To man for safety, which Deity would not
Grant, nor her own breast could claim.
The Sailors hoped
To fetch the quiet creek in boats; and haste
Could not await ELMIRA; nor would fear
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Aids permit to take a poor helpless hand:—
Yet, alone, would Innocence have saved them!
The female age matured and wise, her child's
Guardian, hung for life on men! While she prayed
That they would save her daughter's life and her's,
A sweeping billow bore her to the deep.
Shortly awake, Elmira joined me soon,
Treading with cheerful step and unrestrained
The stately portico. 'Twas all enchantment
To her soul. The sun burst brilliant forth and
Welcomed her: All the Isle, the conquered ocean,
Lay before her: Smaller Isles attract her:
Unknown Diversities of Landscape strike:
The distant Hills cite curiosity:
Her God is in her heart in Love and Bliss;
And through the Isle and air she lives.
A SOLITARY EFFUSION IN A SUMMER's EVENING.
HAVING SPENT A VERY FINE DAY IN THE HOUSE, IN THE MIDST OF A VERY FINE COUNTRY, FROM WANT OF COMPANY TO ENJOY IT WITH ME; I WROTE THESE LINES AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON ON THE TWENTIETH OF JULY LAST.
What is the cloudless sky to me? Nature'sDevellopt radiance and her thousand charms?
No heart joins mine: no kindred step with me
Winds the lone dingle, or pursues the track
Slow opening through the mazy thicket's shade:
None rests with me upon the verdant slope,
And runs his eye enraptured o'er the glade,
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With slow and measured lapse, his round of ages
In the circling mead; saw the woad-painted
Briton; beheld, or bore, his sharp-scythed chariot;
Was oft dasht by the fierce arm that ruled it;
Yielded indignant to the new Roman;
Echoed with languid joy and presage sad
The desperate shouts of fainting Freedom,
As they rang from loud Caer-Caradoc amain,
And with their last rude crash shook every dale,
Rouzed each cot in vain; and has lived to hear
That song again from centuries of Death,
On Mason's lyre revived.
The hill, where Caractacus made his last stand, and visible from many parts of the County of Salop, where this was written.
That hold, or held, some Druid. Dark mantling
Round they throw impenetrable shade; and hide,
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By Roman, or by Savage conqueror's step,
Some Temple sacred by the Mystic Sage.
Here, too, are haunts of Love, as well as grand
And rudest Wisdom's darkest, drear domains.
Groves were sacred once to Love: once were heard,
Low murmuring through the many-turtled shades
Of Peace, respondent sighs, or liveliest notes
Of placid and accordant Love, that mixed
Airs with the Zephyr, whispers with the sacred grove.
Long husht to sullen silence, Groves no more
Echo to human Loves; the Loves refined,
Or antient minstrels sung, of Dryad or
Of Naiad, or perchance of human Maid
From cottage or from palace; or of Gods,
From halls of light descending to the plain,
Unconscious of a change; nor so immixt,
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The Nymph, the Goddess or terrestrial Maid.
Lonely their solitary haunts I view:
And welcome solitude where they are not:
Where such are not companions of the walk!
Tell me, ye Gentle and ye Graceful, tell—
Tell me, ye Chaste, yet not averse from Love—
Tell me, ye Great, who guarded all these Fair,
And make the lofty Groves of Love, that tower
In Zenith Air, terrific to the vain;
As all within was mild, serene and pure—
Tell me, who most have ravaged your retreats;
Who worst your secret delicacies wound,
And boldest all your hidden depths profane?
Which age is vile, the Gothic, or Refined?
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In choral harmony of Fair and Great.
“Ah! What avails to us, pure Nature's Spirits!
“The managed body and the managed tongue,
“Which chaunts no concord to soft Nature's notes?
“The managed foot, that dreads our shady brakes,
“And shuns our holiest, wildest, deepest walks?
“We give no music to the high-trained ear:
“Our concert loved is NATURE's voice Divine,
“And GOD's and LOVE's; One unison, that sounds
“Through every branch, and trembles in each leaf.
“Here oft, when man awakes not, hear we sweet
“The voice of GOD conversing in the Calm,
“And preaching of his inmost works Himself;
“Till all the Seraph glow in all his fires,
“And melts the high Society in one
“Enraptured Diapason's holy sound.
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“And harshly grated human Discords there:
“He passed unheeded when the storm was o'er,
“And left no measured ravage: Not the man
“Of boisterous Nature was our foe; that man
“Was Nature still, and her behests obeyed.
“The Man of Art, is NATURE's foe and man's
“And God's. His desolating axe wastes all,
“That speaks a GOD Creator of the Land;
“And marks it for his own. The ground not then
“Yields an impartial feast to man, to fowl,
“And all the Family of GOD; but trained
“To furnish famine, mocks at GOD and all.
“No shades are holy, nor are rural scenes.
“The Man of Art proscribes all Nature; marks
“For dread the embowring thicket formed for Love
“And Love's delights of Peace; and wise in this
“Career of Ruin, he; for LOVE itself
“Is the first dread—LOVE the first great terror
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“And yet is LOVE the Universal Friend:
“And, (hear the choir of NATURE, MAN and GOD!)
“The Man of Art, the Universal Foe!
“He dreads himself—hates LOVE he can't subdue—
“His GOD arraigns—all NATURE desolates!
“But hence, let NATURE rise and reign in Man!
“And him destroy who has destroyed the Earth;
“While GOD inspires, and LOVE unites the World!”
I hail the blest alternative! Content
To live dissociate of the Man of Art
And his dissociate earth, usurpt and curst!
Shortly his ruin whelms; the Dam is broke!
The Founts of Fire are broken up, as erst
Of the Great Deep, and FIRE now streams along,
Innocuous round my Rest! See! It comes!
And claims the SPRINGS of NATURE for it's own!
| The hurricane | |