SHAME on this faithless heart! that could allow
Such transport, though but for a moment's space; Not while to aid the spirit of the place
The crescent moon clove with its glittering prow The clouds, or night-bird sang from shady bough But in plain daylight: She, too, at my side, Who, with her heart's experience satisfied, Maintains inviolate its slightest vow!
Sweet Fancy! other gifts must I receive; Proofs of a higher sovereignty I claim;
Take from her brow the withering flowers of eve, And to that brow life's morning wreath restore; Let her be comprehended in the frame
Of these illusions, or they please no more.
RECOLLECTION OF THE PORTRAIT OF KING HENRY EIGHTH TRINITY LODGE, CAMBRIDGE.
THE imperial stature, the colossal stride,
Are yet before me; yet do I behold
The broad, full visage, chest of amplest mould, The vestments 'broidered with barbaric pride: And lo! a poniard, at the Monarch's side, Hangs ready to be grasped in sympathy With the keen threatenings of that fulgent eye,
Below the white-rimmed bonnet far descried. Who trembles now at thy capricious mood? Mid those surrounding Worthies, haughty King, We rather think, with grateful mind sedate, How Providence educeth, from the spring Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good, Which neither force shall check nor time abate!
ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY (GEORGE THE THIRD).
WARD of the Law!-dread Shadow of a King! Whose realm had dwindled to one stately room; Whose universe was gloom immersed in gloom, Darkness as thick as life o'er life could fling, Save haply for some feeble glimmering
Of Faith and Hope, if thou, by Nature's doom, Gently hast sunk into the quiet tomb,
Why should we bend in grief, to sorrow cling, When thankfulness were best? - Fresh-flowing
Or, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, Yield to such after-thought the sole reply Which justly it can claim. The Nation hears In this deep knell, silent for threescore years, An unexampled voice of awful memory!
FAME tells of groves,—from England far away, Groves that inspire the Nightingale to trill And modulate, with subtle reach of skill Elsewhere unmatched, her ever-varying lay; Such bold report I venture to gainsay : For I have heard the choir of Richmond Hill Chanting, with indefatigable bill,
Strains that recalled to mind a distant day; When, haply under shade of that same wood, And scarcely conscious of the dashing oars Plied steadily between those willowy shores, The sweet-souled Poet of the Seasons stood, Listening, and listening long, in rapturous mood, Ye heavenly Birds! to your Progenitors.
WHERE holy ground begins, unhallowed ends, Is marked by no distinguishable line; The turf unites, the pathways intertwine; And, wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends, Garden, and that domain where kindred, friends And neighbors rest together, here confound
*Wallachia is the country alluded to.
Their several features, mingled like the sound Of many waters, or as evening blends
With shady night. Soft airs, from shrub and flower, Waft fragrant greetings to each silent grave; And while those lofty poplars gently wave Their tops, between them comes and goes a sky Bright as the glimpses of eternity
To saints accorded in their mortal hour.
COMPOSED AMONG THE RUINS OF A CASTLE IN NORTH WALES
THROUGH shattered galleries, 'mid roofless halls, Wandering with timid footsteps oft betrayed, The Stranger sighs, nor scruples to upbraid Old Time, though he, gentlest among the Thralls Of Destiny, upon these wounds hath laid His lenient touches, soft as light that falls, From the wan Moon, upon the towers and walls, Light deepening the profoundest sleep of shade. Relic of Kings! Wreck of forgotten wars, To winds abandoned and the prying stars, Time loves Thee! at his call the Seasons twine Luxuriant wreaths around thy forehead hoar; And, though past pomp no changes can restore, A soothing recompense, his gift, is thine!
TO THE LADY E. B. AND THE HON. MISS P.
Composed in the Grounds of Plass Newidd, near Llangollen.
A STREAM, to mingle with your favorite Dee, Along the VALE OF MEDITATION* flows; So styled by those fierce Britons, pleased to see In Nature's face the expression of repose; Or haply there some pious hermit chose To live and die, the peace of heaven his aim; To whom the wild, sequestered region owes, At this late day, its sanctifying name. GLYN CAFAILLGAROCH, in the Cambrian tongue, In ours, the VALE OF FRIENDSHIP, let this spot Be named; where, faithful to a low-roofed Cot, On Deva's banks, ye have abode so long; Sisters in love, a love allowed to climb, Even on this earth, above the reach of Time!
TO THE TORRENT AT THE Devil's bridge, NORTH WALES, 1824.
How art thou named? In search of what strange
From what huge height, descending? Can such
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