Page images
PDF
EPUB

XIV.

O MOUNTAIN Stream! the Shepherd and his Cot
Are privileged Inmates of deep solitude;
Nor would the nicest Anchorite exclude
A field or two of brighter green, or plot
Of tillage-ground, that seemeth like a spot
Of stationary sunshine:— thou hast viewed
These only, Duddon! with their paths renewed
By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not.
Thee hath some awful spirit impelled to leave,
Utterly to desert, the haunts of men,
Though simple thy companions were and few;
And through this wilderness a passage cleave
Attended but by thy own voice, save when
The Clouds and Fowls of the air thy way pursue!

XV.

FROM this deep chasm - where quivering sunbeams play

Upon its loftiest crags mine

eyes

behold

A gloomy NICHE, capacious, blank, and cold;
A concave free from shrubs and mosses grey;

In semblance fresh, as if, with dire affray,
Some Statue, placed amid these regions old
For tutelary service, thence had rolled,
Startling the flight of timid Yesterday!
Was it by mortals sculptured?-weary slaves
Of slow endeavour! or abruptly cast
Into rude shape by fire, with roaring blast
Tempestuously let loose from central caves?
Or fashioned by the turbulence of waves,
Then, when o'er highest hills the Deluge past?

XVI.

AMERICAN TRADITION.

SUCH fruitless questions may not long beguile
Or plague the fancy, 'mid the sculptured shows
Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows;

There would the Indian answer with a smile

Aimed at the White Man's ignorance, the while
Of the GREAT WATERS telling how they rose,
Covered the plains, and, wandering where they chose,
Mounted through every intricate defile,

Triumphant. Inundation wide and deep,

O'er which his Fathers urged, to ridge and steep Else unapproachable, their buoyant way;

And carved, on mural cliff's undreaded side,

Sun, moon, and stars, and beast of chase or prey; Whate'er they sought, shunned, loved, or deified!

*See Humboldt's Personal Narrative.

*

XVII.

RETURN.

A DARK plume fetch me from yon

blasted Yew,

Perched on whose top the Danish Raven croaks;

Aloft, the imperial Bird of Rome invokes

Departed ages, shedding where he flew

Loose fragments of wild wailing, that bestrew

The clouds, and thrill the chambers of the rocks,
And into silence hush the timorous flocks,

That, calmly couching while the nightly dew
Moistened each fleece, beneath the twinkling stars
Slept amid that lone Camp on Hardknot's height,
Whose Guardians bent the knee to Jove and Mars:
Or, near that mystic Round of Druid frame

Tardily sinking by its proper weight

Deep into patient Earth, from whose smooth breast it came!

XVIII.

SEATHWAITE CHAPEL.

SACRED Religion, " mother of form and fear,"
Dread Arbitress of mutable respect,

New rites ordaining when the old are wrecked,
Or cease to please the fickle worshipper;
If one strong wish may be embosomed here,
Mother of LOVE! for this deep vale, protect
Truth's holy lamp, pure source of bright effect,
Gifted to purge the vapoury atmosphere
That seeks to stifle it; -as in those days
When this low Pile a Gospel Teacher knew,
Whose good works formed an endless retinue:
Such Priest as Chaucer sang in fervent lays;
Such as the heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew;
And tender Goldsmith crowned with deathless prai!

« PreviousContinue »