YARROW visited. SEPTEMBER, 1814. AND is this-Yarrow?-This the stream So faithfully, a waking dream? Oh, that some Minstrel's harp were near, And chase this silence from the air, Yet why?—A silvery current flows And, through her depths, Saint Mary's Lake For not a feature of those hills Is in the mirror slighted. A blue sky bends o'er Yarrow Vale, Mild dawn of promise! that excludes Though not unwilling here to admit Where was it that the famous Flower His bed perchance was yon smooth mound Delicious is the Lay that sings And Pity sanctifies the Verse The unconquerable strength of love; But thou, that didst appear so fair Dost rival in the light of day Her delicate creation : Meek loveliness is round thee spread, A softness still and holy; The grace of forest charms decayed, And pastoral melancholy. That region left, the vale unfolds Rich groves of lofty stature, With Yarrow winding through the pomp Of cultivated nature; And, rising from those lofty groves, Behold a Ruin hoary! The shattered front of Newark's towers Fair scenes for childhood's opening bloom, For manhood to enjoy his strength; Yon cottage seems a bower of bliss, Of tender thoughts that nestle there, How sweet, on this autumnal day, And what if I enwreathed my own! I see but not by sight alone, And gladsome notes my lips can breathe The vapours linger round the Heights, 1814. ΤΟ ON HER FIRST ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF HELVELLYN. INMATE of a mountain-dwelling, Potent was the spell that bound thee, For blue Ether's arms, flung round thee, Lo the dwindled woods and meadows! Lo! the clouds, the solemn shadows, And a record of commotion Maiden now take flight ;-inherit Or survey their bright dominions Thine are all the choral fountains Of the untrodden lunar mountains; To Niphates' top invited For the power of hills is on thee, |