And hear the voice of mirth and song rebound, Flocks, herds, and waterfalls, along the hoar profound! ХХІІ. In truth he was a strange and wayward wight, A sigh, a tear, so sweet, he wish'd not to control. XXIII. "O ye Why do the birds, that song and rapture brought And the dead foliage flies in many a shapeless flake. XXIV. "Where now the rill, melodious, pure, and cool, And meads, with life, and mirth, and beauty crown'd! Ah! see, th' unsightly slime and sluggish pool Have all the solitary vale imbrown'd; Fled each fair form, and mute each melting sound, The raven croaks forlorn on naked spray : And, hark! the river, bursting every mound, Down the vale thunders, and with wasteful sway Uproots the grove, and rolls the shatter'd rocks away. XXV. "Yet such the destiny of all on Earth: Borne on the swift, though silent wings of Time, XXVI. "And be it so. Let those deplore their doom, Soon shall the orient with new lustre burn, XXVII. "Shall I be left forgotten in the dust, With disappointment, penury, and pain? No: Heaven's immortal spring shall yet arrive, And man's majestic beauty bloom again, Bright through th' eternal year of Love's triumphant reign." XXVIII. This truth sublime his simple sire had taught. No subtle nor superfluous lore he sought, "Let man's own sphere," said he "confine his view, Be man's peculiar work his sole delight." And much, and oft, he warn'd him to eschew Falsehood and guile, and aye maintain the right, By pleasure unseduced, unawed by lawless might. XXIX. "And, from the prayer of Want, and plaint of Woe, Oh, never, never turn away thine ear! Forlorn, in this bleak wilderness below, Ah! what were man, should Heaven refuse to hear! To others do (the law is not severe) What to thyself thou wishest to be done. Forgive thy foes; and love thy parents dear, And friends, and native land; nor those alone; All human weal and woe learn thou to make thine own." XXX. See, in the rear of the warm sunny shower For now the storm of summer rain is o'er, XXXI. Yet couldst thou learn, that thus it fares with age, When pleasure, wealth, or power, the bosom warm, This baffled hope might tame thy manhood's rage, And disappointment of her sting disarm. But why should foresight thy fond heart alarm? Fancy and hope too soon shall of themselves expire. XXXII. When the long-sounding curfew from afar Or blast that shrieks by fits the shuddering isles along. XXXIII. Or, when the setting Moon, in crimson dyed, Hung o'er the dark and melancholy deep, To haunted stream, remote from man, he hied, Where fays of yore their revels wont to keep; And there let Fancy rove at large, till sleep A vision brought to his entranced sight. And first, a wildly murmuring wind 'gan creep Shrill to his ringing ear; then tapers bright, With instantaneous gleam, illumed the vault of night. XXXIV. Anon in view a portal's blazon'd arch The long-robed minstrels wake the warbling wire, And some with mellow breath the martial pipe inspire. XXXV. With merriment, and song, and timbrels clear, Now bound aloft with vigorous spring, then glance : Of tapers, gems, and gold, the echoing forests blaze. XXXVI The dream is fled. Proud harbinger of day, XXXVII. Forbear, my Muse. Let Love attune thy line. Revoke the spell. Thine Edwin frets not so. For how should he at wicked chance repine, Who feels from every change amusement flow! Even now his eyes with smiles of rapture glow, As on he wanders through the scenes of morn, Where the fresh flowers in living lustre blow, Where thousand pearls the dewy lawns adorn, A thousand notes of joy in every breeze are borne. |