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Pledged till thou reach the verge of womanhood,

And shalt become thy own sufficient stay: Too late, I feel, sweet Orphan ! was the day For stedfast hope the contract to fulfil; Yet shall my blessing hover o'er thee still, Embodied in the music of this Lay, Breathed forth beside the peaceful moun tain Stream

Whose murmur soothed thy languid Mother's ear

After her throes, this Stream of name more dear

Since thou dost bear it, — a memorial theme

For others; for thy future self, a spell
To summon fancies out of Time's dark cell

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1827. 1827

eye a Temple, like a cloud Slowly surmounting some invidious bill,

e out of darkness: the bright Work stood still:

I might of its own beauty have been proud,

it was fashioned and to God was vowed Virtues that diffused, in every part, rit divine through forms of human art: th had her arch - - her arch, when winds blow loud,

ɔ the consciousness of safety thrilled; 1 Love her towers of dread foundation laid

der the grave of things; Hope had her spire

r-high, and pointing still to something higher;

embling I gazed, but heard a voice — it said,

[ell-gates are powerless Phantoms when we build."

O BACK TO ANTIQUE AGES, IF THINE EYÊS”

1827. 1827

back to antique ages, if thine eyes Le genuine mien and character would trace

the rash Spirit that still holds her place,

ompting the world's audacious vanities! back, and see the Tower of Babel rise; e pyramid extend its monstrous base, r some Aspirant of our short-lived race, axious an aery name to immortalize. ere, too, ere wiles and politic dispute ave specious colouring to aim and act, e the first mighty Hunter leave the brute

o chase mankind, with men in armies packed

or his field-pastime high and absolute, hile, to dislodge his game, cities are sacked!

IN THE WOODS OF RYDAL

1827. 1827

ILD Redbreast! hadst thou at Jemima's lip

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IF these brief Records, by the Muses' art Produced as lonely Nature or the strife That animates the scenes of public life Inspired, may in thy leisure claim a part; And if these Transcripts of the private heart

Have gained a sanction from thy falling tears;

Then I repent not. But my soul hath fears Breathed from eternity; for, as a dart Cleaves the blank air, Life flies: now every day

Is but a glimmering spoke in the swift wheel

Of the revolving week. Away, away,
All fitful cares, all transitory zeal!
So timely Grace the immortal wing may
heal,

And honour rest upon the senseless clay.

A MORNING EXERCISE
1828. 1832

Written at Rydal Mount. I could wish the last five stanzas of this to be read with the poem addressed to the skylark.

ecked, as at mine, thus boldly, Love might FANCY, who leads the pastimes of the glad, Full oft is pleased a wayward dart to throw;

say,

Sending sad shadows after things not sad, Peopling the harmless fields with signs of

woe:

Beneath her sway, a simple forest cry Becomes an echo of man's misery.

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To the last point of vision, and beyond. that love

Blithe ravens croak of death; and when Mount, daring warbler!

the owl

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prompted strain ("Twixt thee and thine a never-failing boad Thrills not the less the bosom of the pla Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege to sing

All independent of the leafy spring.

How would it please old Ocean to partake With sailors longing for a breeze in vain, The harmony thy notes most gladly make Where earth resembles most his own d main !

Urania's self might welcome with pleased

ear

These matins mounting towards her native sphere.

Chanter by heaven attracted, whom t bars

To day-light known deter from that purs 'Tis well that some sage instinct, when the

stars

Come forth at evening, keeps Thee still and mute;

For not an eyelid could to sleep incline Wert thou among them, singing as they shine!

THE TRIAD 1828. 1829

Written at Rydal Mount. The Girls, Edd Southey, my daughter Dora, and Sara Co ridge.

SHOW me the noblest Youth of presen time,

Whose trembling fancy would to love give birth;

Some God or Hero, from the Olymp

clime

Returned, to seek a Consort upon earth;
Or, in no doubtful prospect, let me see
The brightest star of ages yet to be,
And I will mate and match him blissfully
I will not fetch a Naiad from a flood
Pure as herself (song lacks not mightist
power)

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Nor Sea-nymph glistening from her coral bower;

Mere Mortals bodied forth in vision still, Shall with Mount Ida's triple lustre fill The chaster coverts of a British hill.

"Appear! - obey my lyre's command! Come, like the Graces, hand in hand! For ye, though not by birth allied, Are Sisters in the bond of love; Nor shall the tongue of envious pride Presume those interweavings to reprove 20 In you, which that fair progeny of Jove, Learned from the tuneful spheres that glide

In endless union, earth and sea above." — I sing in vain; - the pines have hushed their waving:

A peerless Youth expectant at my side, Breathless as they, with unabated craving Looks to the earth, and to the vacant air; And, with a wandering eye that seems to chide,

Asks of the clouds what occupants they hide:

31

But why solicit more than sight could bear,
By casting on a moment all we dare?
Invoke we those bright Beings one by one;
And what was boldly promised, truly shall
be done.

"Fear not a constraining measure!
Yielding to this gentle spell,

Lucida! from domes of pleasure,
Or from cottage-sprinkled dell,
Come to regions solitary,

Where the eagle builds her aery,

Above the hermit's long-forsaken cell!" 40 She comes! - behold

That Figure, like a ship with snow-white sail!

Nearer she draws; a breeze uplifts her veil;
Upon her coming wait

As pure a sunshine and as soft a gale
As e'er, on herbage covering earthly mould,
Tempted the bird of Juno to unfold

His richest splendour — when his veering gait

And every motion of his starry train
Seem governed by a strain

Of music, audible to him alone.

50

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Domestic queen, where grandeur is un

known;

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Met by the rainbow's form divine,
Issuing from her cloudy shrine;
So may the thrillings of the lyre
Prevail to further our desire,

While to these shades a sister Nymph I call.

"Come, if the notes thine ear may pierce,

Come, youngest of the lovely Three,
Submissive to the might of verse
And the dear voice of harmony,

By none more deeply felt than Thee!"
I sang; and lo! from pastimes virginal
She hastens to the tents

Of nature, and the lonely elements.
Air sparkles round her with a dazzling

sheen;

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And this light-hearted Maiden constant is as he.

High is her aim as heaven above,
And wide as ether her good-will;
And, like the lowly reed, her love

Can drink its nurture from the scantiest rill:

Insight as keen as frosty star
Is to her charity no bar,

Nor interrupts her frolic graces
When she is, far from these wild places,
Encircled by familiar faces.

O the charm that manners draw,
Nature, from thy genuine law!
If from what her hand would do,
Her voice would utter, aught ensue
Untoward or unfit;

She, in benign affections pure,

In self-forgetfulness secure,

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Sheds round the transient harm or vague

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