And I am conscious of affecting thoughts -To these emotions, whencesoe'er they come, Of moral strength, and intellectual Power; To Conscience only, and the law supreme 1 sing:-'fit audience let me find though few!' So prayed, more gaining than he asked, the BardIn holiest mood. Urania, I shall need Thy guidance, or a greater Muse, if such Descend to earth or dwell in highest heaven! For I must tread on shadowy ground, must sink Deep—and, aloft ascending, breathe in worlds To which the heaven of heavens is but a veil. All strength-all terror, single or in bands, That ever was put forth in personal formJehovah with his thunder, and the choir Of shouting Angels, and the empyreal thronespass them unalarmed. Not Chaos, not I The darkest pit of lowest Erebus, Nor aught of blinder vacancy, scooped out Into our Minds, into the Mind of Man My haunt, and the main region of my song. -Beauty-a living Presence of the earth, An hourly neighbour. Paradise, and groves Or a mere fiction of what never was? Can it be called) which they with blended might Of sorrow, barricadoed evermore Within the walls of cities—may these sounds A gift of genuine insight; that my Song Of those mutations that extend their sway This Vision; when and where, and how he lived ;- May sort with highest objects, then-dread Power! Express the image of a better time, More wise desires, and simpler manners ;--nurse |