UPON THE BIRTH OF HER FIRST-BORN CHILD, MARCH, 1833.
[WRITTEN at Moresby near Whitehaven, when I was on a visit to my son, then Incumbent of that small living. While I am dictating these notes to my friend, Miss Fenwick, January 24, 1843, the child upon whose birth these verses were written is under my roof, and is of a disposition so promising that the wishes and prayers and prophecies which I then breathed forth in verse are, through God's mercy, likely to be realised.]
"Tum porro puer, ut sævis projectus ab undis Navita, nudus humi jacet, &c.'-LUCRETIUS.
LIKE a shipwrecked Sailor tost By rough waves on a perilous coast, Lies the Babe, in helplessness And in tenderest nakedness, Flung by labouring nature forth Upon the mercies of the earth. Can its eyes beseech ?—no more Than the hands are free to implore: Voice but serves for one brief cry; Plaint was it? or prophecy Of sorrow that will surely come? Omen of man's grievous doom!
But, O Mother! by the close Duly granted to thy throes; By the silent thanks, now tending Incense-like to Heaven, descending Now to mingle and to move With the gush of earthly love,
As a debt to that frail Creature, Instrument of struggling Nature For the blissful calm, the peace Known but to this one release- Can the pitying spirit doubt That for human-kind springs out From the penalty a sense
Of more than mortal recompence? As a floating summer cloud, Though of gorgeous drapery proud, To the sun-burnt traveller, Or the stooping labourer,
Oft-times makes its bounty known By its shadow round him thrown; So, by chequerings of sad cheer, Heavenly Guardians, brooding near, Of their presence tell-too bright Haply for corporeal sight! Ministers of grace divine Feelingly their brows incline O'er this seeming Castaway Breathing, in the light of day, Something like the faintest breath That has power to baffle death— Beautiful, while very weakness Captivates like passive meekness.
And, sweet Mother! under warrant
Of the universal Parent,
Who repays in season due
Them who have, like thee, been true
To the filial chain let down
From his everlasting throne,
Angels hovering round thy couch, With their softest whispers vouch, That-whatever griefs may fret, Cares entangle, sins beset, This thy First-born, and with tears Stain her cheek in future years- Heavenly succour, not denied To the babe, whate'er betide, Will to the woman be supplied! Mother! blest be thy calm ease; Blest the starry promises,- And the firmament benign
Hallowed be it, where they shine! Yes, for them whose souls have scope Ample for a wingèd hope,
And can earthward bend an ear For needful listening, pledge is here, That, if thy new-born Charge shall tread In thy footsteps, and be led
By that other Guide, whose light Of manly virtues, mildly bright, Gave him first the wished-for part In thy gentle virgin heart; Then, amid the storms of life Presignified by that dread strife Whence ye have escaped together, She may look for serene weather; In all trials sure to find
Comfort for a faithful mind; Kindlier issues, holier rest,
Than even now await her prest, Conscious Nursling, to thy breast!
[THESE lines were composed during the fever spread through the Nation by the Reform Bill. As the motives which led to this measure, and the good or evil which has attended or has risen from it, will be duly appreciated by future historians, there is no call for dwelling on the subject in this place. I will content myself with saying that the then condition of the people's mind is not, in these verses, exaggerated.]
LIST, the winds of March are blowing;
Her ground-flowers shrink, afraid of showing Their meek heads to the nipping air,
Which ye feel not, happy pair! Sunk into a kindly sleep.
We, meanwhile, our hope will keep ; And if Time leagued with adverse Change (Too busy fear!) shall cross its range, Whatsoever check they bring, Anxious duty hindering,
To like hope our prayers will cling.
Thus, while the ruminating spirit feeds Upon the events of home as life proceeds, Affections pure and holy in their source Gain a fresh impulse, run a livelier course; Hopes that within the Father's heart prevail, Are in the experienced Grandsire's slow to fail; And if the harp pleased his gay youth, it rings To his grave touch with no unready strings,
While thoughts press on, and feelings overflow, And quick words round him fall like flakes of snow. Thanks to the Powers that yet maintain their sway, And have renewed the tributary Lay.
Truths of the heart flock in with eager pace, And FANCY greets them with a fond embrace; Swift as the rising sun his beams extends
She shoots the tidings forth to distant friends; Their gifts she hails (deemed precious, as they prove For the unconscious Babe so prompt a love!)- But from this peaceful centre of delight Vague sympathies have urged her to take flight: Rapt into upper regions, like the bee
That sucks from mountain heath her honey fee; Or, like the warbling lark intent to shroud His head in sunbeams or a bowery cloud, She soars—and here and there her pinions rest On proud towers, like this humble cottage, blest With a new visitant, an infant guest-
Towers where red streamers flout the breezy sky In pomp foreseen by her creative eye, When feasts shall crowd the hall, and steeple bells Glad proclamation make, and heights and dells Catch the blithe music as it sinks and swells, And harboured ships, whose pride is on the sea, Shall hoist their topmast flags in sign of glee, Honouring the hope of noble ancestry.
But who (though neither reckoning ills assigned By Nature, nor reviewing in the mind
The track that was, and is, and must be, worn With weary feet by all of woman born)— Shall now by such a gift with joy be moved, Nor feel the fulness of that joy reproved?
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