"HAST THOU SEEN, WITH FLASH INCESSANT."

Composed 1818.

Published 1820.

HAST thou seen, with flash incessant,

Bubbles gliding under ice,

Bodied forth and evanescent,

No one knows by what device?

Such are thoughts !-A wind-swept meadow
Mimicking a troubled sea,

Such is life; and death a shadow

From the rock eternity!

NEAR THE SPRING OF THE HERMITAGE.

Composed 1818.

Published 1820.

TROUBLED long with warring notions
Long impatient of thy rod,

I resign my soul's emotions

Unto Thee, mysterious God!

What avails the kindly shelter
Yielded by this craggy rent,
If my spirit toss and welter
On the waves of discontent?

Parching Summer hath no warrant
To consume this crystal Well;
Rains, that make each rill a torrent,
Neither sully it nor swell.

Thus, dishonouring not her station,
Would my Life present to Thee,
Gracious God, the pure oblation
Of divine tranquillity!

COMPOSED UPON AN EVENING OF EXTRAORDINARY Splendour AND BEAUTY. (54)

Composed 1818.

Published 1820.

1.

HAD this effulgence disappeared
With flying haste, I might have sent,
Among the speechless clouds, a look

Of blank astonishment;

But 'tis endued with power to stay,

And sanctify one closing day,
That frail Mortality may see--

What is ?-ah no, but what can be!
Time was when field and watery cove
With modulated echoes rang,

While choirs of fervent Angels sang

Their vespers in the grove;

Or, crowning, star-like, each some sovereign height,
Warbled, for heaven above and earth below,

Strains suitable to both.-Such holy rite,

Methinks, if audibly repeated now

From hill or valley, could not move
Sublimer transport, purer love,

Than doth this silent spectacle—the gleam—
The shadow-and the peace supreme!

II.

No sound is uttered,-but a deep

And solemn harmony pervades

The hollow vale from steep to steep,
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh,

Called forth by wondrous potency

Of beamy radiance, that imbues

Whate'er it strikes with gem-like hues !

In vision exquisitely clear,

Herds range along the mountain side;

And glistening antlers are descried ; (55)
And gilded flocks appear.

Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,
Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe
That this magnificence is wholly thine!
-From worlds not quickened by the sun
A portion of the gift is won ;

An intermingling, of Heaven's pomp is spread
On ground which British shepherds tread!

III.

And, if there be whom broken ties

Afflict, or injuries assail,

Yon hazy ridges (56) to their eyes
Present a glorious scale, (57)
Climbing suffused with sunny air,
To stop-no record hath told where !
And tempting Fancy to ascend,
And with immortal Spirits blend!
-Wings at my shoulders seem to play ;
But, rooted here, I stand and gaze

On those bright steps that upward raise
Their practicable way.

Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad,

And see to what fair countries ye are bound!

And if some traveller, weary of his road,

Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy ground,

Ye Genii! to his covert speed;

And wake him with such gentle heed

As may attune his soul to meet the dower

Bestowed on this transcendent hour!

IV.

Such hues from their celestial Urn
Were wont to stream before mine eye,
Where'er it wandered in the morn
Of blissful infancy.

This glimpse of glory, why renewed?
Nay, rather speak with gratitude;

For, if a vestige of those gleams
Survived, 'twas only in my dreams.

Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve,
The thunder, and the still small voice,

If aught unworthy be my choice,
From THEE if I would swerve;

Oh, let thy grace remind me of the light
Full early lost, and fruitlessly deplored;
Which, at this moment, on my waking sight
Appears to shine, by miracle restored;
My soul, though yet confined to earth,
Rejoices in a second birth!

'Tis past, the visionary splendour fades ;
And night approaches with her shades.

1819.

TO THE RIVER DERWENT.

Composed 1819.

Published 1819.

AMONG the mountains were we nursed, loved Stream!
Thou near the eagle's nest—within brief sail,

I, of his bold wing floating on the gale; (58)

Where thy deep voice could lull me! Faint the beam
Of human life when first allowed to gleam

On mortal notice.-Glory of the vale,

Such thy meek outset, with a crown, though frail,
Kept in perpetual verdure by the stream

Of thy soft breath!-Less vivid wreath entwined
Nemæan victor's brow; less bright was worn,
Meed of some Roman chief-in triumph borne
With captives chained; and shedding from his car
The sunset splendours of a finished war
Upon the proud enslavers of mankind!

Composed 1819.

SEPTEMBER 1819.

Published 1820.

DEPARTING summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,

The gentlest look of spring;

That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.

No faint and hesitating trill,
Such tribute as to winter chill
The lonely redbreast pays!

Clear, loud, and lively is the din,
From social warblers gathering in
Their harvest of sweet lays.

Nor doth the example fail to cheer
Me, conscious that my leaf is sere,
And yellow on the bough :-

Fall, rosy garlands, from my head!
Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed
Around a younger brow!

Yet will I temperately rejoice;

Wide is the range, and free the choice

Of undiscordant themes;

Which, haply, kindred souls may prize
Not less than vernal ecstasies,

And passion's feverish dreams.

For deathless powers to verse belong,
And they like Demi-gods are strong
On whom the Muses smile;

But some their function have disclaimed,
Best pleased with what is aptliest framed
To enervate and defile.