STRANGE fits of passion have I known : And I will dare to tell, But in the Lover's ear alone, What once to me befel. When she I loved was strong and gay, And like a rose in June, I to her cottage bent my way, Beneath the evening Moon. Upon the Moon I fixed my eye, All over the wide lea; My Horse trudged on—and we drew nigh Those paths so dear to me. And now we reached the orchard plot ; And, as we climbed the hill, Towards the roof of Lucy's cot The Moon descended still. In one of those sweet dreams I slept, Kind Nature's gentlest boon! And all the while my eyes I kept On the descending Moon. My Horse moved on; hoof after hoof He raised, and never stopped: When down behind the cottage roof, At once, the bright Moon dropped. What fond and wayward thoughts will slide Into a Lover's head! "O mercy!" to myself I cried, "If Lucy should be dead!" "THREE YEARS SHE GREW." THREE years she grew in sun and shower, This Child I to myself will take; She shall be mine, and I will make "Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse: and with me In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, To kindle or restrain. "She shall be sportive as the Fawn That wild with glee across the lawn Or up the mountain springs; And hers shall be the breathing balm, And hers the silence and the calm Of mute insensate things. "The floating Clouds their state shall lend To her; for her the willow bend; Nor shall she fail to see Even in the motions of the Storm Grace that shall mould the Maiden's form By silent sympathy. "The Stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where Rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound "And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give While she and I together live Here in this happy Dell." Thus Nature spake-The work was done How soon my Lucy's race was run! She died, and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene; The memory of what has been, "SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS." SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways A Maid whom there were none to praise A Violet by a mossy stone -Fair as a star, when only one She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me ! "A SLUMBER DID MY SPIRIT SEAL." A SLUMBER did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel No motion has she now, no force; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, "I TRAVELLED AMONG UNKNOWN MEN." I TRAVELLED among unknown men, Nor, England! did I know till then 'Tis past, that melancholy dream! Among thy mountains did I feel The joy of my desire; And she I cherished turned her wheel Beside an English fire. Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed The bowers where Lucy played; And thine is too the last green field That Lucy's eyes surveyed. TO THE CUCKOO. O BLITHE New-comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice. O Cuckoo shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear; From hill to hill it seems to pass, At once far off and near. Though babbling only, to the Vale, Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! Even yet thou art to me No Bird: but an invisible Thing, A voice, a mystery; The same whom in my School-boy days I listened to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways In bush, and tree, and sky. To seek thee did I often rove |