He smites the rock-upheaved in pride, See towers of strength and domes of taste. Earth's teeming caves their wealth reveal, Fire bears his banner on the wave, He bids the mortal poison heal, And leaps triumphant o'er the grave. He plucks the pearls that stud the deep, Admiring Beauty's lap to fill; And mocks his own Creator's skill. He bids the ore illume the page, And proudly scorning time's control, Commerces with an unborn age. In fields of air he writes his name, And treads the chambers of the sky, He reads the stars, and grasps the flame That quivers round the Throne on high. In war renowned, in peace sublime, He moves in greatness and in grace ; His power subduing space and time, Links realm to realm, and race to race. I saw two clouds at morning, Tinged with the rising sun; And mingled into one: I saw two summer currents Flow smoothly to their meeting, In peace each other greeting : Such be your gentle motion, Till life's last pulse shall beat; Float on in joy, to meet How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view! The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew; THE BUCKET. 57 The wide-spreading pond, and the mill which stood by it, The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell; And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well! That moss-covered vessel I hail as a treasure ; For often, at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white pebbled bottom it fell ; And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well; How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips! Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips. The tear of regret will intrusively swell, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well; WHITHER, ʼmidst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowler's eye Thy figure floats along. Seekst thou the plashy brink On the chafed ocean side ? There is a Power, whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast. The desert and illimitable air Lone wandering, but not lost. |