SAY, ye that know, ye who have felt and seen Spring's morning smiles, and soul-enlivening green, - Say, did you give the thrilling transport way? Did your eye brighten when young lambs at play Leaped o'er your path with animated pride,
Or gazed in merry clusters by your side? Ye who can smile- to wisdom no disgrace-
At the arch meaning of a kitten's face;
If spotless innocence, and infant mirth, Excites to praise, or gives reflection birth; In shades like these pursue your favorite joy, Midst Nature's revels, sports that never cloy. A few begin a short, but vigorous race, And Indolence, abashed, soon flies the place; Thus challenged forth, see thither, one by one, From every side assembling playmates run; A thousand wily antics mark their stay,
A starting crowd, impatient of delay.
Like the fond dove from fearful prison freed,
Each seems to say, "Come, let us try our speed; "
Away they scour, impetuous, ardent, strong, The green turf trembling as they bound along; Adown the slope, then up the hillock climb, Where every mole-hill is a bed of thyme; There, panting, stop; yet scarcely can refrain; A bird, a leaf, will set them off again; Or, if a gale with strength unusual blow, Scattering the wild-brier roses into snow, Their little limbs increasing efforts try, Like the torn flower, the fair assemblage fly. Ah, fallen rose! sad emblem of their doom; Frail as thyself, they perish as they bloom!
THE groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned To hew the shaft and lay the architrave,
And spread the roof above them, -ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks And supplication. For his simple heart Might not resist the sacred influences
Which, from the stilly twilight of the place,
And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound Of the invisible breath that swayed at once All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed His spirit with the thought of boundless power And inaccessible majesty. Ah, why Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised? Let me, at least,
Here, in the shadow of this aged wood,
Offer one hymn, - thrice happy if it find
Acceptance in His ear.
Hath reared these venerable columns, thou
Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down
Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun, Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze, And shot toward heaven. The century-living crow, Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died Among their branches, till at last they stood, As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark, Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold Communion with his Maker. These dim vaults, These winding aisles, of human pomp or pride Report not. No fantastic carvings show
The boast of our vain race to change the form Of thy fair works. But thou art here, thou fill'st The solitude. Thou art in the soft winds
That run along the summit of these trees
In music; thou art in the cooler breath That from the inmost darkness of the place
Comes, scarcely felt; the barky trunks, the ground, The fresh moist ground, are all instinct with thee. Here is continual worship; - Nature, here,
In the tranquillity that thou dost love, Enjoys thy presence. Noiselessly, around, From perch to perch, the solitary bird
Passes; and yon clear spring, that, midst its herbs, Wells softly forth and wandering steeps the roots Of half the mighty forest, tells no tale
Of all the good it does. Thou hast not left Thyself without a witness, in these shades, Of thy perfections. Grandeur, strength, and grace Are here to speak of thee. This mighty oak, — By whose immovable stem I stand and seem Almost annihilated, not a prince,
In all that proud old world beyond the deep,
« ElőzőTovább » |