"And free from semblance of decline; "Fresh as if Evening brought their natal hour; "Her darkness splendour gave, her silence power, "To testify of Love and Grace divine. "And though to every draught of vital breath "Renewed throughout the bounds of earth or ocean, 66 The melancholy gates of Death "Respond with sympathetic motion; 66 Though all that feeds on nether air, "Howe'er magnificent or fair, "Grows but to perish, and intrust "Its ruins to their kindred dust; "Yet, by the Almighty's ever-during care, "Her procreant vigils Nature keeps "Amid the unfathomable deeps; "And saves the peopled fields of earth "From dread of emptiness or dearth. "Thus, in their stations, lifting tow'rd the sky "The foliaged head in cloud-like majesty, "The shadow-casting race of Trees survive: "Thus, in the train of Spring, arrive "Sweet Flowers; what living eye hath viewed "Their myriads? - endlessly renewed, "Wherever strikes the sun's glad ray; "Where'er the subtle waters stray; "Wherever sportive zephyrs bend 66 Their course, or genial showers descend! "Mortals, rejoice! the very Angels quit "Their mansions unsusceptible of change, "Amid your pleasant bowers to sit, "And through your sweet vicissitudes to range!" 3. O, nursed at happy distance from the cares Prefer'st a garland culled from purple heath, Such melody to hear! Him rather suits it, side by side with thee, While thy tired lute hangs on the hawthorn tree, Doth to the Soul exalt it with the chime a company Of ages coming, ages gone; (Nations from before them sweeping, And armed with living spear for mortal fight; A cunning forager That spreads no waste; - a social builder; one In whom all busy offices unite With all fine functions that afford delight, 4. And is She brought within the power Her flight, and take its voice away! How fragile! - yet of ancestry At which the desert trembles. — Humming Bee! All creatures met in peace, from fierceness free, And no pride blended with their dignity. Tears had not broken from their source; Nor anguish strayed from her Tartarian den; Not undiversified, though smooth and even; We were not mocked with glimpse and shadow, then Bright Seraphs mixed familiarly with men ; And earth and stars composed a universal heaven! XXIII. ODE TO LYCORIS. MAY, 1817. 1. AN age hath been when Earth was proud To be sustained; and Mortals bowed Who then, if Dian's crescent gleamed, If I, a Bard of erring time, to show 2. In youth we love the darksome lawn Pleased with the harvest hope that runs Pleased while the sylvan world displays Its ripeness to the feeding gaze; Pleased when the sullen winds resound the knell Of the resplendent miracle. 3. But something whispers to my heart That, as we downward tend, Lycoris! life requires an art To which our souls must bend; Whose home is in the breast! |