Now, even now, ere wrapped in slumber,
Fix thine eyes upon the sea

That absorbs time, space, and number;
Look thou to Eternity!

Follow thou the flowing river

45

On whose breast are thither borne
All deceived, and each deceiver,

50

Through the gates of night and morn;

Through the year's successive portals;

Through the bounds which many a star
Marks, not mindless of frail mortals
When his light returns from far.

55

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 !

5

ΙΟ

15

20

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 ;

And gilded flocks appear.

Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,

25

30

Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe
That this magnificence is wholly thine!

35

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!

40

And with immortal Spirits blend !'

Wings at my shoulders seem to play ;

1 See Note.

But, rooted here, I stand and gaze

50

On those bright steps that heavenward 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,

55

Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy ground,
Ye Genii! to his covert speed;

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.

75

80

NOTE. The multiplication of mountain-ridges, described at the commencement of the third Stanza of this Ode, as a kind of Jacob's Ladder, leading to Heaven, is produced either by watery vapours, or sunny haze ; - in the present instance by the latter cause. Allusions to the Ode, entitled "Intimations of Immortality," pervade the last stanza of the foregoing Poem.

SEPTEMBER, 1819.

THE Sylvan slopes with corn-clad fields
Are hung, as if with golden shields,
Bright trophies of the sun!

Like a fair sister of the sky,