His, who did baffled Polypheme deride,
Or his, whose searing shaft the Harpy fled.]
Camoëns, he the accomplished and the good,

Gave to thy fame a more illustrious flight
Than that brave vessel, though she sailed so far;
Through him her course along the Austral flood
Is known to all beneath the polar star,
Through him the Antipodes in thy name delight.

TRANSLATION OF THE ATHENIAN SONG
IN HONOUR OF HARMODIUS

A

AND ARISTOGITON

ND I will bear my vengeful blade
With the myrtle's boughs arrayed,
As Harmodius before,

As Aristogiton bore,

When the tyrant's heart they gor'd
With the myrtle-braided sword,
Gave to triumph Freedom's cause,
Gave to Athens equal laws.

Where, unnumbered with the dead,
Dear Harmodius, art thou fled?
Athens sings 'tis thine to rest
In the islands of the blest,
Where Achilles swift of feet
And the brave Tydides meet.

I will bear my vengeful blade
With the myrtle boughs arrayed,
As Harmodius before,

As Aristogiton bore,

When in Athens' festal time

10

ΤΟ

The tyrant felt their arm sublime.

Let thy name, Harmodius dear,

Live through Heaven's eternal year:
Long as Heaven and Earth survive,
Dear Aristogiton, live;

With the myrtle-braided sword
Ye the tyrant's bosom gor'd,

Gave to triumph Freedom's cause,

Gave to Athens equal laws.

Between 1800 and 1811 (?)

20

INSCRIPTION ON A ROCK AT RYDAL MOUNT

OULDST thou be gathered to Christ's chosen flock,

WOUL

Shun the broad way too easily explored,

And let thy path be hewn out of the Rock,
The living Rock of God's eternal Word.

1838

PROTEST AGAINST THE BALLOT

ORTH rushed from Envy sprung and Self-conceit,
A Power misnamed the SPIRIT of REFORM,
And through the astonished Island swept in storm,
Threatening to lay all Orders at her feet

That crossed her way. Now stoops she to entreat
Licence to hide at intervals her head

Where she may work, safe, undisquieted,
In a close Box, covert for Justice meet.

St. George of England! keep a watchful eye
Fixed on the Suitor; frustrate her request—
Stifle her hope; for, if the State comply,
From such Pandorian gift may come a Pest
Worse than the Dragon that bowed low his crest,
Pierced by thy spear in glorious victory.

1838

ΙΟ

A POET TO HIS GRANDCHILD

SEQUEL TO A PLEA FOR AUTHORS'

ON of my buried Son, while thus thy hand Is clasping mine, it saddens me to think How Want may press thee down, and with thee sink Thy Children left unfit, through vain demand Of culture, even to feel or understand

My simplest Lay that to their memory

May cling;-hard fate! which haply need not be
Did Justice mould the Statutes of the Land.
A Book time-cherished and an honoured name
Are high rewards; but bound they Nature's claim
Or Reason's? No-hopes spun in timid line
From out the bosom of a modest home
Extend through unambitious years to come,
My careless Little-one, for thee and thine!"

May 23, 1838

ΤΟ

ON A PORTRAIT OF ISABELLA FENWICK
PAINTED BY MARGARET GILLIES

W

E gaze-nor grieve to think that we must die,
But that the precious love this friend hath

sown

Within our hearts, the love whose flower hath blown
Bright as if heaven were ever in its eye,
Will pass so soon from human memory;
And not by strangers to our blood alone,
But by our best descendants be unknown,
Unthought of this may surely claim a sigh.
Yet, blessed Art, we yield not to dejection;
Thou against Time so feelingly dost strive.
Where'er, preserved in this most true reflection,
An image of her soul is kept alive,

Some lingering fragrance of the pure affection,
Whose flower with us will vanish, must survive.
RYDAL MOUNT, New Year's Day, 1840

TH

TO I. F.

'HE star which comes at close of day to shine
More heavenly bright than when it leads the
morn,

Is Friendship's emblem, whether the forlorn
She visiteth, or, shedding light benign

Through shades that solemnise Life's calm decline,
Doth make the happy happier. This have we
Learnt, Isabel, from thy society,

Which now we too unwillingly resign

Though for brief absence. But farewell! the page
Glimmers before my sight through thankful tears,
Such as start forth, not seldom, to approve
Our truth, when we, old yet unchilled by age,

Call thee, though known but for a few fleet years,
The heart-affianced sister of our love!

RYDAL MOUNT, Feb. 1840

ΤΟ

OH BOUNTY WITHOUT MEASURE,
WHILE THE GRACE

OF

H Bounty without measure, while the Grace
Of Heaven doth in such wise from humblest
springs

Pour pleasures forth, and solaces that trace

A mazy course along familiar things,

Well may our hearts have faith that blessings come
Streaming from points above the starry sky,
With angels, when their own untroubled home
They leave and speed on mighty embassy
To visit earthly chambers, and for whom?
Yea, both for souls who God's forbearance try,
And those that seek his help and for his mercy sigh.
7th April 1840. My 70th Birthday

WHEN SEVERN'S SWEEPING FLOOD

W

HAD OVERTHROWN

HEN Severn's sweeping flood had overthrown St. Mary's Church, the preacher then would cry:

Thus, Christian people, God his might hath shown
That ye to him your love may testify;

Haste, and rebuild the pile.'—But not a stone
Resumed its place. Age after age went by,
And Heaven still lacked its due, though piety
In secret did, we trust, her loss bemoan.
But now her Spirit hath put forth its claim
In Power, and Poesy would lend her voice;
Let the new Church be worthy of its aim,
That in its beauty Cardiff may rejoice!
Oh! in the past if cause there was for shame,
Let not our times halt in their better choice.
RYDAL MOUNT, Jan 23, 1842

ΙΟ

ΙΟ

S'

THE EAGLE AND THE DOVE

HADE of Caractacus, if spirits love

The cause they fought for in their earthly home,

To see the Eagle ruffled by the Dove

May soothe thy memory of the chains of Rome.

These children claim thee for their sire; the breath
Of thy renown, from Cambrian mountains, fans
A flame within them that despises death
And glorifies the truant youth of Vannes.

With thy own scorn of tyrants they advance,
But truth divine has sanctified their rage,

A silver cross enchased with Flowers of France
Their badge, attests the holy fight they wage.

The shrill defiance of the young crusade
Their veteran foes mock as an idle noise;
But unto Faith and Loyalty comes aid

From Heaven, gigantic force to beardless boys.

Published 1842

ΤΟ

LINES

INSCRIBED IN A COPY OF HIS POEMS SENT TO THE

QUEEN FOR THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT WINDSOR

EIGN, Sovereign Mistress! to accept a lay,
No Laureate offering of elaborate art;

But salutation taking its glad way

From deep recesses of a loyal heart.

Queen, Wife and Mother! may All-judging Heaven Shower with a bounteous hand on Thee and Thine Felicity that only can be given

On earth to goodness blest by grace divine.

Lady! devoutly honoured and beloved

Through every realm confided to thy sway; May'st thou pursue thy course by God approved, And He will teach thy people to obey.

As thou art wont, thy sovereignty adorn

With woman's gentleness, yet firm and staid;
So shall that earthly crown thy brows have worn
Be changed for one whose glory cannot fade.
And now by duty urged, I lay this Book

Before thy Majesty, in humble trust
That on its simplest pages thou wilt look
With a benign indulgence more than just.

Nor wilt thou blame an aged Poet's prayer,
That issuing hence may steal into thy mind

ΤΟ

20