They will not, cannot disappear;
Whence angry perturbations, and that look Which our philosophy can brook!
Ill-fated chief; there are whose hopes are built Upon the ruins of thy glorious name; Who, through the portal of one moment's guilt, Pursue thee with their deadly aim!
O matchless perfidy! portentous lust
Of monstrous crime;—that horror-striking blade, Drawn in defiance of the gods, hath laid The noble Syracusan low in dust!
Shudder the walls-the marble city wept- And sylvan places heaved a pensive sigh: But in calm peace the appointed victim slept, As he had fallen in magnanimity;
Of spirit too capacious to require
That Destiny her course should change; too just To his own native greatness to desire
That wretched boon, days lengthened by mistrust. So were the hopeless troubles, that involved The soul of Dion, instantly dissolved. Released from life and cares of princely state, He left this moral grafted on his fate- "Him only pleasure leads, and peace attends, Him, only him, the shield of Jove defends, Whose means are fair and spotless as his ends."
A PEN-to register; a key- That winds through secret wards; Are well assigned to memory By allegoric bards.
As aptly, also, might be given A pencil to her hand;
That, softening objects, sometimes even Outstrips the heart's demand;
That smooths foregone distress, the lines Of lingering care subdues, Long-vanished happiness refines, And clothes in brighter hues:
Yet, like a tool of fancy, works Those spectres to dilate
That startle Conscience, as she lurks
Within her lonely seat.
Oh that our lives, which flee so fast, In purity were such,
That not an image of the past
Should fear that pencil's touch!
Retirement then might hourly look Upon a soothing scene,
Age steal to his allotted nook, Contented and serene;
With heart as calm as lakes that sleep, In frosty moonlight glistening; Or mountain rivers, where they creep Along a channel smooth and deep, To their own far-off murmurs listening.
STERN daughter of the voice of God! O Duty! if that name thou love, Who art a light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove;
Thou who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;
And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!
There are who ask not if thine eye
Be on them; who, in love and truth, Where no misgiving is, rely Upon the genial sense of youth; Glad hearts! without reproach or blot; Who do thy work, and know it not:
Long may the kindly impulse last!
But thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!
Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light, And joy its own security.
And they a blissful course may hold Even now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of this creed;
Yet find that other strength, according to their need.
I, loving freedom, and untried; No sport of every random gust, Yet being to myself a guide, Too blindly have reposed my trust: And oft, when in my heart was heard Thy timely mandate, I deferred
The task, in smoother walks to stray;
But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.
Through no disturbance of my soul, Or strong compunction in me wrought, I supplicate for thy control;
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance desires: My hopes no more must change their name, I long for a repose that ever is the same.
Stern lawgiver! yet thou dost wear The Godhead's most benignant grace; Nor know we anything so fair As is the smile upon thy face:
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds; And fragrance in thy footing treads:
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong:
And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.
To humbler functions, awful power! I call thee: I myself commend Unto thy guidance from this hour; Oh, let my weakness have an end! Give unto me, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give;
And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!
POEMS OF THE IMAGINATION.
THERE was a boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs And islands of Winander! many a time,
At evening, when the earliest stars began To move along the edges of the hills, Rising or setting, would he stand alone, Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake; And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him.-And they would shout Across the watery vale, and shout again,
Responsive to his call,-with quivering peals, And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild
Of mirth and jocund din! And, when it chanced That pauses of deep silence mocked his skill, Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise Has carried far into his heart the voice Of mountain torrents; or the visible scene Would enter unawares into his mind With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,
Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, received Into the bosom of the steady lake.
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