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178
SONG OF ARLA,
WRITTEN DURING HER ENTHUSIASM.
FLUSH'D, from my restless pillow I arose,
To calm my thoughts, sad stranger to repose;
Wandering through woods, by night's dread shadows gloom'd,
At every glade I pensive rear'd my eyes,
And view'd the fleecy clouds fleet o'er the skies,
Which gathering thick a thousand forms assum'd.
Sudden, while yet I gaz'd, the heavens grew bright;
The graceful star of night
Shot,'midst the dark assembled host of clouds,
A pure resplendent light.
To calm my thoughts, sad stranger to repose;
Wandering through woods, by night's dread shadows gloom'd,
At every glade I pensive rear'd my eyes,
And view'd the fleecy clouds fleet o'er the skies,
Which gathering thick a thousand forms assum'd.
Sudden, while yet I gaz'd, the heavens grew bright;
The graceful star of night
Shot,'midst the dark assembled host of clouds,
A pure resplendent light.
The parting vapours floating on the air
Seem'd spirits teeming with immortal fire,
Bright emanations of th' Eternal Sire
Unto my soul reveal'd by ardent prayer.
Seem'd spirits teeming with immortal fire,
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Bright emanations of th' Eternal Sire
Unto my soul reveal'd by ardent prayer.
Clear, by the moon, a numerous host I view,
Circling its orb, the unclad spirits wing,
On music's pinions mystic flights pursue,
Glide through the air, and heavenly numbers sing;
While from on high
Descend long beams of light;
A thousand visions crowd upon my sight;
I seem to mount, and, borne along the sky,
Rapt'rous I sing, in frenzied ecstasy:
Circling its orb, the unclad spirits wing,
On music's pinions mystic flights pursue,
Glide through the air, and heavenly numbers sing;
While from on high
Descend long beams of light;
A thousand visions crowd upon my sight;
I seem to mount, and, borne along the sky,
Rapt'rous I sing, in frenzied ecstasy:
"Whither flies my soul, amid the lunar night?
"Glory rushes on my sight!
"Seraphic music fills my ear,
"Visionary forms appear
"In solemn grandeur dight!
"Drawn by silver rays
"Round the all-attracting orb,
"While Night her sable wings displays,
"Which every vivid beam absorb.
"Amid the sacred host I fly,
"Fraught with solemn harmony.
"Mingling with the lunar beams,
"From every eye immortal genius gleams;
"The soul of sound
"Pervades the shadowy space around:
"From each wild harp a nightly spirit springs,
"And peals of heavenly music sings;
"Grand clouds of darkness, hurried by the wind,
"Bearing th' emanations of the mind:
"The touch most fine,
"The gleam most magic;
"The voice most rapt'rously divine,
"Strains most wild and energetic!
"All, all combine,
"They gather, stream;
"The sounds encrease, they join,
"While still we fly the circle round,
"We dart along, wake every sound,
"And amidst the harmony, and light, and darkness, shine."
"Glory rushes on my sight!
"Seraphic music fills my ear,
"Visionary forms appear
"In solemn grandeur dight!
"Drawn by silver rays
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"Round the all-attracting orb,
"While Night her sable wings displays,
"Which every vivid beam absorb.
"Amid the sacred host I fly,
"Fraught with solemn harmony.
"Mingling with the lunar beams,
"From every eye immortal genius gleams;
"The soul of sound
"Pervades the shadowy space around:
"From each wild harp a nightly spirit springs,
"And peals of heavenly music sings;
"Grand clouds of darkness, hurried by the wind,
"Bearing th' emanations of the mind:
"The touch most fine,
"The gleam most magic;
"The voice most rapt'rously divine,
"Strains most wild and energetic!
"All, all combine,
"They gather, stream;
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"The sounds encrease, they join,
"While still we fly the circle round,
"We dart along, wake every sound,
"And amidst the harmony, and light, and darkness, shine."
Now op'd the starry regions on my sight,
And 'thwart dark space shot radiant streams of light;
Th' aereal forms in mists dissolving rise,
Yet still I hear the grand concordant song,
Echo'd by all the offspring of the skies,
Who each in their eternal language sung,
While all around brake forth ethereal rays:
From high I heard a new and awful sound,
Swelling with voice divine the song of praise.
My feeble sense no longer bears the light,
Oppos'd my eye-lids close,
The heavenly forms I lose
Amid th' all-piercing light.
My ears resound no more, my pulses cease,
And for a while my soul was hush'd to peace.
And 'thwart dark space shot radiant streams of light;
Th' aereal forms in mists dissolving rise,
Yet still I hear the grand concordant song,
Echo'd by all the offspring of the skies,
Who each in their eternal language sung,
While all around brake forth ethereal rays:
From high I heard a new and awful sound,
Swelling with voice divine the song of praise.
My feeble sense no longer bears the light,
Oppos'd my eye-lids close,
The heavenly forms I lose
Amid th' all-piercing light.
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My ears resound no more, my pulses cease,
And for a while my soul was hush'd to peace.
Till, waking in the fields, with chill'd affright,
I feel a shivering being wandering in the night.
I feel a shivering being wandering in the night.
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