UPON THE SAME OCCASION.

DEPARTING summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;

That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.

No faint and hesitating trill,

Such tribute as to winter chill

The lonely redbreast pays !

Clear, loud, and lively is the din,
From social warblers gathering in
Their harvest of sweet lays.

Nor doth the example fail to cheer
Me, conscious that my leaf is sere,
And yellow on the bough :

Fall, rosy garlands, from my head!

Ye myrtle wreaths, your fragrance shed
Around a younger brow!

5

10

15

Yet will I temperately rejoice;

Wide is the range, and free the choice
Of undiscordant themes;

Which, haply, kindred souls may prize
Not less than vernal ecstasies,
And passion's feverish dreams.

For deathless powers to verse belong,
And they like Demi-gods are strong
On whom the Muses smile;

But some their function have disclaimed,
Best pleased with what is aptliest framed
To enervate and defile.

Not such the initiatory strains
Committed to the silent plains
In Britain's earliest dawn:

Trembled the groves, the stars grew pale,
While all-too-daringly the veil

Of nature was withdrawn !

20

25

309

35

Nor such the spirit-stirring note

When the live chords Alcæus smote,

Inflamed by sense of wrong;

Woe! woe to Tyrants! from the lyre

Broke threateningly, in sparkles dire

Of fierce vindictive song.

And not unhallowed was the page
By winged Love inscribed, to assuage
The pangs of vain pursuit ;

Love listening while the Lesbian Maid
With finest touch of passion swayed
Her own Æolian lute.

40

45

(WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS COLLECTION, 1820.)

THE Minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;

While, smitten by a lofty moon,

The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,
That overpowered their natural green.

Through and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings :
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,

Nor check, the music of the strings;

So stout and hardy were the band

That scraped the chords with strenuous hand;

And who but listened? till was paid
Respect to every Inmate's claim :
The greeting given, the music played,
In honour of each household name,
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And "merry Christmas" wished to all!

O Brother! I revere the choice
That took thee from thy native hills;
And it is given thee to rejoice:
Though public care full often tills
(Heaven only witness of the toil)

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20

A barren and ungrateful soil.

Yet, would that Thou, with me and mine,
Hadst heard this never-failing rite;

25

On these expected annual rounds;

Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate
Call forth the unelaborate sounds,

Or they are offered at the door

That guards the lowliest of the poor.

How touching, when at midnight, sweep
Snow-muffled winds, and all is dark,
To hear and sink again to sleep!

Or, at an earlier call, to mark,
By blazing fire, the still suspense
Of self-complacent innocence;

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40

The mutual nod, the grave disguise

And some unbidden tears that rise

Of hearts with gladness brimming o'er;

45

For names once heard, and heard no more;
Tears brightened by the serenade

That through the clouds do sometimes steal,
And all the far-off past reveal.