 | Woodcuts and Verses |  |
56
FAREWELL TO LEE PRIORY.
Adieu, the pensive still retreat,
The woodland paths, the classic dome,
Where float the mental visions sweet,
And Fancy finds her genial home.
The woodland paths, the classic dome,
Where float the mental visions sweet,
And Fancy finds her genial home.
The Wanderer oft, where'er he roves,
Dear cherished scene, shall think on thee;
In Memory's glass review thy groves,
Thy green luxuriant pastures see.
Dear cherished scene, shall think on thee;
In Memory's glass review thy groves,
Thy green luxuriant pastures see.
57
For not to him a sunny glade
Nor yet a primrose-nook is strange,
Nor tufted knoll, nor secret shade,
Of all thy various ample range.
Nor yet a primrose-nook is strange,
Nor tufted knoll, nor secret shade,
Of all thy various ample range.
He knows where in the tangled brake
The goldfinch builds his little cell,
And where their nests the thrushes make,
And where the happy squirrels dwell.
The goldfinch builds his little cell,
And where their nests the thrushes make,
And where the happy squirrels dwell.
And oft each coy secluded scene
With him the bashful Muse has sought;
Where, veil'd behind the leafy screen,
She best might breathe the thrilling thought.
With him the bashful Muse has sought;
Where, veil'd behind the leafy screen,
She best might breathe the thrilling thought.
But most within that circled room,
Where Bards, Historians, Sages live,
In all the fresh and deathless bloom
Their own immortal labours give—
Where Bards, Historians, Sages live,
In all the fresh and deathless bloom
Their own immortal labours give—
58
Most in that magical recess,
Sweet Fancy holds poetic reign;
The hours so fleetly onward press,
They mock at the pursuit of pain.
Sweet Fancy holds poetic reign;
The hours so fleetly onward press,
They mock at the pursuit of pain.
And thence the eye may rest or range
On broken mounds, in brilliant weather,
Where light and shadow blend and change,
Like joy and grief in dance together.
On broken mounds, in brilliant weather,
Where light and shadow blend and change,
Like joy and grief in dance together.
'Tis wild, fair Lee, when winds awake
Among thy boughs with stern turmoil,
To see their stormy pinions shake
The stately elms that love thy soil.
Among thy boughs with stern turmoil,
To see their stormy pinions shake
The stately elms that love thy soil.
'Tis gentle, at the sun's decline,
To watch the ruddy golden beam,
That flings it's broad and mellow line
Athwart thy smiling conscious stream.
To watch the ruddy golden beam,
That flings it's broad and mellow line
Athwart thy smiling conscious stream.
59
'Tis softer yet to turn and mark
The moon behind yon wood arise,
Disparting, like a crystal bark,
The cloudy billows of the skies:
The moon behind yon wood arise,
Disparting, like a crystal bark,
The cloudy billows of the skies:
All lavish, as she slowly sails,
Of light that breaks like Ocean's spray,
And greets thy vaulted gates, and hails
Thy Gothic walls with flickering ray.
Of light that breaks like Ocean's spray,
And greets thy vaulted gates, and hails
Thy Gothic walls with flickering ray.
Fair walls, from yonder hill how oft
The stranger on his weary road
Turns, as he marks the spire aloft,
To thine embowered serene abode.
The stranger on his weary road
Turns, as he marks the spire aloft,
To thine embowered serene abode.
And sighing thinks perchance the while
'Twere bliss, absorbed in peace and prayer,
Life's simple tenor to beguile,
An unmolested hermit there.
'Twere bliss, absorbed in peace and prayer,
Life's simple tenor to beguile,
An unmolested hermit there.
60
Far be from me such dreary bliss!
The pulse of social joy congeal'd,
O who, sweet Lee, would change for this
The charm that Love and Friendship yield.
The pulse of social joy congeal'd,
O who, sweet Lee, would change for this
The charm that Love and Friendship yield.
Alas, regret will still attend—
For when was pleasure unalloyed?
While Pity mourns the youthful friend,
The Mother's second hope destroyed.
For when was pleasure unalloyed?
While Pity mourns the youthful friend,
The Mother's second hope destroyed.
Yet not for this less dear to view
Thy woods, and spire, and turrets rise;
O not because pale Memory's dew
Will sometimes dim Affection's eyes.
Thy woods, and spire, and turrets rise;
O not because pale Memory's dew
Will sometimes dim Affection's eyes.
Ah, rather, for this tender woe,
That here he left his latest trace,
Should Memory round thy precincts throw
A holy charm, a soothing grace.
That here he left his latest trace,
Should Memory round thy precincts throw
A holy charm, a soothing grace.
61
Adieu, fair Lee, a gem of thine
I bear away as now we part,
And it shall have as safe a shrine
As is a true and tender heart.
I bear away as now we part,
And it shall have as safe a shrine
As is a true and tender heart.
A flower of thine I bear afar,
And thou art rich in fair young flowers;
Though none to me seems quite so fair,
So sweet as This, in all thy bowers.
And thou art rich in fair young flowers;
Though none to me seems quite so fair,
So sweet as This, in all thy bowers.
I bear it from a fostering soil,
That suffered not it's bloom to perish;
And so on me may Fortune smile
As I the' entrusted treasure cherish.
That suffered not it's bloom to perish;
And so on me may Fortune smile
As I the' entrusted treasure cherish.
Adieu! may Peace o'erwatch thy gates;
May Pleasure nestle on thy walls;
And the pure Star of radiant Fates
With cloudless lustre cheer thy halls.
May Pleasure nestle on thy walls;
And the pure Star of radiant Fates
With cloudless lustre cheer thy halls.
| Woodcuts and Verses | |