Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife? IX. O joy! that in our embers The thought of our past years in me doth breed Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast: Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise ; Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realised, High instincts before which our mortal nature Those shadowy recollections, Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Are yet a master light of all our seeing; Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal silence: truths that wake, To perish never; Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy! Hence, in a season of calm weather, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea Can in a moment travel thither, And see the children sport upon the shore, X. Then sing, ye birds! sing, sing a joyous song! We in thought will join your throng, Ye that pipe and ye that play, Ye that through your hearts to-day What though the radiance which was once so bright Though nothing can bring back the hour Which, having been, must ever be, In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind. XI. And O, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might; To live beneath your more habitual sway. I love the brooks which down their channels fret, Is lovely yet; The clouds that gather round the setting sun 1803-1806. COMPOSED UPON AN EVENING OF EXTRAORDINARY SPLENDOUR AND BEAUTY. HAD this effulgence disappeared But 'tis endued with power to stay, While choirs of fervent Angels sang Their vespers in the grove; Or, crowning, star-like, each some sovereign height, Strains suitable to both. Such holy rite, Methinks, if audibly repeated now From hill or valley, could not move Than doth this silent spectacle-the gleam The shadow-and the peace supreme! No sound is uttered,-but a deep Called forth by wondrous potency Of beamy radiance, that imbues, Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues! In vision exquisitely clear, Herds range along the mountain side; And gilded flocks appear. Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve! But long as god-like wish, or hope divine, An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread And, if there be whom broken ties Yon hazy ridges to their eyes Climbing suffused with sunny air, On those bright steps that heavenward raise Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad, Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy ground, Ye Genii! to his covert speed; And wake him with such gentle heed As may attune his soul to meet the dower Such hues from their celestial urn This glimpse of glory, why renewed? Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve No less than Nature's threatening voice, If aught unworthy be my choice, From THEE if I would swerve; Oh! let thy grace remind me of the light -Tis past, the visionary splendour fades ; 1818. FROM THE EXCURSION. I. DESCRIPTION OF MIST OPENING IN THE HILLS. WITH their freight homeward the shepherds moved Of the blind vapour, opened to my view By waking sense or by the dreaming soul! A wilderness of building, sinking far By earthly nature had the effect been wrought Now pacified; on them, and on the coves And mountain steeps and summits, whereunto The vapours had receded, taking there Their station under a cerulean sky! Oh, 'twas an unimaginable sight! Clouds, mists, streams, watery rocks, and emerald turf, Clouds of all tincture, rocks and sapphire sky, Confused, commingled, mutually inflamed, Molten together, and composing thus, Each lost in each, that marvellous array Of temple, palace, citadel, and huge Stood fixed; and fixed resemblances were seen To implements of ordinary use, But vast in size, in substance glorified; Such as by Hebrew Prophets were beheld |