 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
105
HAMPDEN.
WRITTEN IN VIEW OF THE PATRIOT'S HOUSE.
There is a time when gentlest thoughts are ours,When like one long and summer day of ease,
We wear on month and month, and as may please
The chimings of the fancy, in our bowers
Disport, or, mid the wood-paths wild with flowers,
Roam in the heart's glad sunshine, whether the breeze
Be heard at morn, or mid the noonday trees
Repose, or Night light up her starry towers.
And there too is a time for other mood,
When we must dwell among the walks of men
With eye of loftiest aspect,—fortitude
And sternness on our front;—and wearing then
That patriot sword, which Hampden, unsubdued,
Wore at his side, though in the tyrant's den.
| Miscellaneous Poems | |