"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
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees.
"I TRAVELLED AMONG UNKNOWN MEN."
I TRAVELLED among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then What love I bore to thee.
'Tis past, that melancholy dream! Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem To love thee more and more.
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.
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 Through woods and on the green; And thou wert still a hope, a love; Still longed for, never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee !
ETHEREAL Minstrel ! Pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, Those quivering wings composed, that music still!
To the last point of vision, and beyond,
Mount, daring Warbler! that love-prompted strain, ('Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond) Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain : Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege! to sing All independent of the leafy spring.
Leave to the Nightingale her shady wood; A privacy of glorious light is thine;
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood Of harmony, with instinct more divine; Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!
"SHE WAS A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT.”
SHE was a Phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair; Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn ; A dancing Shape, an Image gay, To haunt, to startle, and waylay.
I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin liberty;
A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet; A Creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A Being breathing thoughtful breath, A Traveller between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of an angel light.
(AT INVERSNEYDE, UPON LOCH LOMOND.)
SWEET Highland Girl, a very shower Of beauty is thy earthly dower! Twice seven consenting years have shed Their utmost bounty on thy head:
And these grey Rocks; this household Lawn; These Trees, a veil just half withdrawn ; This fall of water, that doth make
A murmur near the silent Lake; This little Bay, a quiet road That holds in shelter thy abode ; In truth together do ye seem Like something fashioned in a dream; Such forms as from their covert peep When earthly cares are laid asleep! Yet, dream and vision as thou art, I bless thee with a human heart: God shield thee to thy latest years! Thee neither know I nor thy peers; And yet my eyes are filled with tears.
With earnest feeling I shall pray For thee when I am far away : For never saw I mien, or face, In which more plainly I could trace Benignity and home-bred sense Ripening in perfect innocence.
Here scattered like a random seed,
Remote from men, Thou dost not need
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