The poetical works of James Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Wanderer informs the Shepherd, that, after the example of many of his Countrymen flying from the Tyranny of France, it is his intention to settle in some remote province of America.

Shep.
“Wanderer, whiter wouldst thou roam;
To what region far away
Bend thy steps to find a home,
In the twilight of thy day?”

Wand.

“In the twilight of my day
I am hastening to the West;
There my weary limbs to lay
Where the sun retires to rest.

Far beyond the Atlantic floods,
Stretch'd beneath the evening sky,
Realms of mountains, dark with woods,
In Columbia's bosom lie.

There, in glens and caverns rude,
Silent since the world began,
Dwells the virgin Solitude,
Unbetray'd by faithless man;

Where a tyrant never trod,
Where a slave was never known,
But where Nature worships God
In the wilderness alone;

—Thither, thither would I roam;
There my children may be free:
I for them will find a home,
They shall find a grave for me.

Though my fathers' bones afar
In their native land repose,
Yet beneath the twilight star
Soft on mine the turf shall close.

Though the mould that wraps my clay
When this storm of life is o'er,
Never since creation lay
On a human breast before;—

Yet in sweet communion there,
When she follows to the dead,
Shall my bosom's partner share
Her poor husband's lowly bed.

Albert's babes shall deck our grave,
And my daughter's duteous tears
Bid the flowery verdure wave
Through the winter-waste of years.”

Shep.

“Long before thy sun descend,
May thy woes and wanderings cease;
Late and lovely be thine end;
Hope and triumph, joy and peace!

As our lakes, at day's decline,
Brighten through the gathering gloom,
May thy latest moments shine
Through the night-fall of the tomb.”

Wand.

“Though our Parent perish'd here,
Like the Phœnix on her nest,
Lo! new-fledg'd her wings appear,
Hovering in the golden West.

Thither shall her sons repair,
And beyond the roaring main
Find their native country there,
Find their Switzerland again.

Mountains, can ye chain the will?
Ocean, canst thou quench the heart?
No; I feel my country still,
LIBERTY! where'er thou art.

Thus it was in hoary time,
When our fathers sallied forth,
Full of confidence sublime,
From the famine-wasted North.

‘Freedom, in a land of rocks
‘Wild as Scandinavia, give,
‘Power Eternal!—where our flocks
‘And our little ones may live.’

Thus they pray'd;—a secret hand
Led them, by a path unknown,
To that dear delightful land
Which I yet must call my own.

To the vale of Switz they came:
Soon their meliorating toil
Gave the forests to the flame,
And their ashes to the soil.

Thence their ardent labours spread,
Till above the mountain-snows
Towering beauty show'd her head,
And a new creation rose!

—So, in regions wild and wide,
We will pierce the savage woods,
Clothe the rocks in purple pride,
Plough the valleys, tame the floods;—

Till a beauteous inland isle,
By a forest-sea embraced,
Shall make Desolation smile
In the depth of his own waste.

There, unenvied, and unknown,
We shall dwell secure and free,
In a country all our own,
In a land of Liberty.”

Shep.

“Yet the woods, the rocks, the streams,
Unbeloved, shall bring to mind,
Warm with Evening's purple beams,
Dearer objects left behind;—

And thy native country's song,
Caroll'd in a foreign clime,
When new echoes shall prolong,
—Simple, tender, and sublime;—

How will thy poor cheek turn pale,
And, before thy banish'd eyes,
Underwalden's charming vale,
And thine own sweet cottage, rise!”

Wand.

“By the glorious ghost of TELL;
By Morgarthen's awful fray;
By the field where Albert fell
In thy last and bitter day;

Soul of Switzerland, arise!
—Ha! the spell has waked the dead:
From her ashes to the skies
Switzerland exalts her head.

See the Queen of Mountains stand,
In immortal mail complete,
With the lightning in her hand,
And the Alps beneath her feet.

Hark! her voice:—‘My sons, awake:
‘Freedom dawns, behold the day:
‘From the bed of bondage break,
‘'Tis your Mother calls,—obey.’

At the sound, our Fathers' graves,
On each ancient battle-plain,
Utter groans, and toss like waves
When the wild blast sweeps the main.

Rise, my Brethren: cast away
All the chains that bind you slaves:
Rise,—your Mother's voice obey,
And appease your Fathers' graves.

Strike!—the conflict is begun;
Freemen, Soldiers, follow me.
Shout!—the victory is won,—
Switzerland and Liberty!”

Shep.
“Warrior, Warrior, stay thine arm!
Sheathe, oh sheathe, thy frantic sword!”

Wand.
“Ah! I rave—I faint:—the charm
Flies,—and memory is restored.

Yes, to agony restored,
From the too transporting charm:—
Sleep for ever, O my sword!
Be thou wither'd, O mine arm!

Switzerland is but a name:
—Yet I feel, where'er I roam,
That my heart is still the same,
Switzerland is still my home.”