As snowdrop on an infant's grave,
Or lily heaving with the wave

That feeds it and defends;

As Vesper, ere the star hath kissed
The mountain top, or breathed the mist
That from the vale ascends.

Thou takest not away, O Death !
Thou strik'st - and absence perisheth,

Indifference is no more ;

The future brightens on our sight;
For on the past hath fallen a light
That tempts us to adore.

XIII.

INVOCATION TO THE EARTH.

FEBRUARY, 1816.

1.

"REST, rest, perturbed Earth!.'"

"O rest, thou doleful Mother of Mankind!"

A Spirit sang in tones more plaintive than the wind:

" From regions where no evil thing has birth

" I come - thy stains to wash away,

" Thy cherished fetters to unbind,

" To open thy sad eyes upon a milder day.

"The Heavens are thronged with martyrs that haverisen

" From out thy noisome prison;
"The penal caverns groan

"With tens of thousands rent from off the tree
" Of hopeful life, - by Battle's whirlwind blown
" Into the deserts of Eternity.

" Unpitied havoc ! Victims unlamented !

" But not on high, where madness is resented,

" And murder causes some sad tears to flow,

" Though, from the widely-sweeping blow,

" The choirs of Angels spread, triumphantly augmented.

2.

"False Parent of Mankind!

" Obdurate, proud, and blind,

" I sprinkle thee with soft celestial dews,

" Thy lost maternal heart to re-infuse !

" Scattering this far-fetched moisture from my wings,

" Upon the act a blessing I implore,

" Of which the rivers in their secret springs,

"The rivers stained so oft with human gore,

"Are conscious; - may the like return no more!

" May Discord - for a Seraph's care

" Shall be attended with a bolder prayer

" May she, who once disturbed the seats of bliss

" These mortal spheres above,

" Be chained for ever to the black abyss !

" And thou, O rescued Earth, by peace and love, " And merciful desires, thy sanctity approve !"

The Spirit ended his mysterious rite, And the pure vision closed in darkness infinite.

XIV.

ODE.

INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD.

The Child is Father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

See Vol. I. page 3.

1.

THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

2.

The Rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the Rose,

The Moon doth with delight

Look round her when the heavens are bare;

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth ;

But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.

3.

Now, while the Birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young Lambs bound

As to the tabor's sound,

To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I again am strong:

The Cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep, No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;

I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng, The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,