An unexpected sight!
Into their arms the lamb they took,
Said they, "He's neither maim'd nor scarr'd.” Then up the steep ascent they hied,
And placed him at his mother's side;
And gently did the Bard
Those idle shepherd-boys upbraid,
And bade them better mind their trade.
O THOU! whose fancies from afar are brought; Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel, And fittest to unutterable thought
The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol; Thou fairy voyager! that dost float
In such clear water, that thy boat
May rather seem
To brood on air than on an earthly stream; Suspended in a stream as clear as sky,
Where earth and heaven do make one imagery;
O blessed vision! happy child!
That art so exquisitely wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years.
I thought of times when pain might be thy guest,
Lord of thy house and hospitality;
And grief, uneasy lover! never rest
But when she sate within the touch of thee.
Oh! too industrious folly!
Oh! vain and causeless melancholy !
Nature will either end thee quite;
Or, lengthening out thy season of delight,
Preserve for thee, by individual right,
A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks.
What hast thou to do with sorrow,
Or the injuries of to-morrow?
Thou art a dew-drop, which the morn brings forth,
Not framed to undergo unkindly shocks;
Or to be trail'd along the soiling earth;
A gem that glitters while it lives;
And no forewarning gives;
But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife Slips in a moment out of life.
INFLUENCE OF NATURAL OBJECTS
IN CALLING FORTH AND STRENGTHENING THE IMAGINATION IN BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH:
FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.*
WISDOM and spirit of the universe! Thou soul, that art the eternity of thought! And giv'st to forms and images a breath And everlasting motion! not in vain,
By day or star-light, thus from my first dawn Of childhood didst thou intertwine for me The passions that build up our human soul; Not with the mean and vulgar works of man,- But with high objects, with enduring things, With life and nature; purifying thus The elements of feeling and of thought, And sanctifying by such discipline Both pain and fear,-until we recognize A grandeur in the beatings of the heart.
Nor was this fellowship vouchsafed to me With stinted kindness. In November days, When vapours, rolling down the valleys, made A lonely scene more lonesome; among woods At noon; and 'mid the calm of summer nights, When, by the margin of the trembling lake, Beneath the gloomy hills, I homeward went In solitude, such intercourse was mine: "Twas mine among the fields both day and night, And by the waters all the summer long.
And in the frosty season, when the sun Was set, and, visible for many a mile,
The cottage windows through the twilight blazed, I heeded not the summons ;-happy time
It was indeed for all of us; for me
It was a time of rapture !-Clear and loud The village clock toll'd six-I wheel'd about, Proud and exulting, like an untired horse That cares not for its home.-All shod with steel, We hiss'd along the polish'd ice, in games Confederate, imitative of the chase
And woodland pleasures,-the resounding horn, The pack loud-bellowing, and the hunted hare. So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle: with the din Meanwhile the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tingled like iron; while the distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound
This extract is reprinted from "THE FRIEND.”
Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars, Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west The orange sky of evening died away.
Not seldom from the uproar I retired Into a silent bay,-or sportively
Glanced sideway, leaving the tumultuous throng, To cut across the image of a star,
That gleam'd upon the ice; and oftentimes, When we had given our bodies to the wind, And all the shadowy banks on either side
Came sweeping through the darkness, spinning still The rapid line of motion, then at once Have I, reclining back upon my heels, Stopp'd short; yet still the solitary cliffs Wheel'd by me-even as if the earth had roll'd With visible motion her diurnal round! Behind me did they stretch in solemn train, Feebler and feebler, and I stood and watch'd Till all was tranquil as a summer sea.
A TALE TOLD BY THE FIRESIDE.
Now we are tired of boisterous joy, We've romp'd enough, my little Boy! Jane hangs her head upon my breast, And you shall bring your stool and rest; This corner is your own.
There! take your seat, and let me see That you can listen quietly; And, as I promised, I will tell That strange adventure which befell A poor Blind Highland Boy.
A Highland Boy!-why call him so? Because, my darlings, ye must know, In land where many a mountain towers, Far higher hills than these of ours! He from his birth had lived.
He ne'er had seen one earthly sight; The sun, the day; the stars, the night; Or tree, or butterfly, or flower,
Or fish in stream, or bird in bower, Or woman, man, or child.
And yet he neither droop'd nor pined, Nor had a melancholy mind;
For God took pity on the Boy,
And was his friend, and gave him joy Of which we nothing know.
His mother, too, no doubt, above Her other children him did love: For, was she here, or was she there, She thought of him with constant care, And more than mother's love.
And proud she was of heart, when clad In crimson stockings, tartan plaid, And bonnet with a feather gay, To kirk he on the Sabbath-day
Went hand in hand with her.
A dog, too, had he; not for need, But one to play with and to feed; Which would have led him, if bereft Of company or friends, and left Without a better guide.
And then the bagpipes he could blow; And thus from house to house would go, And all were pleased to hear and see; For none made sweeter melody
Than did the poor Blind Boy.
Yet he had many a restless dream ; Both when he heard the eagles scream, And when he heard the torrents roar, And heard the water beat the shore Near which their cottage stood.
Beside a lake their cottage stood, Not small, like ours, a peaceful flood, But one of mighty size, and strange, That, rough or smooth, is full of change, And stirring in its bed.
For to this lake, by night and day, The great sea-water finds its way Through long, long windings of the hills, And drinks up all the pretty rills,
And rivers large and strong;
Then hurries back the road it came- Returns on errand still the same : This did it when the earth was new, And this for evermore will do,
As long as earth shall last.
And, with the coming of the tide, Come boats and ships, that sweetly ride Between the woods and lofty rocks; And to the shepherds with their flocks Bring tales of distant lands.
And of those tales, whate'er they were, The Blind Boy always had his share; Whether of mighty towns, or vales With warmer suns and softer gales, Or wonders of the deep.
Yet more it pleased him, more it stirr❜d, When, from the water-side he heard The shouting and the jolly cheers, The bustle of the mariners,
In stillness or in storm.
But what do his desires avail ! For he must never handle sail;
Nor mount the mast, nor row, nor float In sailor's ship or fisher's boat Upon the rocking waves.
His mother often thought, and said, What sin would be upon her head If she should suffer this: "My son, Whate'er you do, leave this undone; The danger is so great."
Thus lived he by Loch Leven's side, Still sounding with the sounding tide, And heard the billows leap and dance, Without a shadow of mischance,
Till he was ten years old.
When, one day (and now mark me well, Ye soon shall know how this befell) He's in a vessel of his own, On the swift water hurrying down Towards the mighty sea.
In such a vessel, never more
May human creature leave the shore!- If this or that way he should stir, Woe to the poor blind mariner !
For death will be his doom.
But say what bears him?-Ye have seen The Indian's bow, his arrows keen, Rare beasts, and birds with plumage bright, Gifts which, for wonder or delight,
Are brought in ships from far.
Such gifts had those seafaring men Spread round that haven in the glen: Each hut, perchance, might have its own, And to the boy they all were known; He knew and prized them all.
And one, the rarest, was a shell Which he, poor child, had studied well; The shell of a green turtle, thin And hollow; you might sit therein, It was so wide and deep.
'Twas even the largest of its kind,
Large, thin, and light, as birch-tree rind,
So light a shell that it would swim,
And gaily lift its fearless brim
Above the tossing surge.
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