ODE TO DUTY. Stern Daughter of the Voice of God! When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free; And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity! There are who ask not if thine eye Be on them; who, in love and truth, Upon the genial sense of youth: Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot; Who do thy work, and know it not: Oh! if through confidence misplaced They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast. Serene will be our days and bright, And happy will our nature be, When love is an unerring light, And joy its own security. And they a blissful course may hold who, not unwisely bold, Even now, Live in the spirit of this creed ; Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need. I, loving freedom, and untried; The task, in smoother walks to stray; But thee I now would serve more strictly if I may. Through no disturbance of my soul, But in the quietness of thought : Me this unchartered freedom tires; I feel the weight of chance-desires : My hopes no more must change their name, Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear Flowers laugh before thee on their beds And fragrance in thy footing treads; Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong. To humbler functions, awful Power! The spirit of self-sacrifice; And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! These notes of thine-they pierce and pierce ; Tumultuous harmony and fierce! Thou sing'st as if the God of wine Had helped thee to a Valentine ; A song in mockery and despite I heard a Stock-dove sing or say He did not cease; but cooed-and cooed; (1806.) THE MOUNTAIN ECHO. Yes, it was the mountain Echo, Answering to the shouting Cuckoo, Giving to her sound for sound! Unsolicited reply To a babbling wanderer sent; Hears not also mortal Life? Hear not we, unthinking Creatures! Have not we too?-yes, we have Such rebounds our inward ear (1806.) ODE. INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF The Child is father of the Man; Bound each to each by natural piety. I. There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. 2. The Rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the Rose, The Moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare, Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath past away a glory from the earth. 3. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; Land and Sea Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Doth every Beast keep holiday;— Thou Child of Joy, Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy! 4. Ye blessed Creatures, I have heard the call Ye to each other make; I see The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee ; My head hath its coronal, The fulness of your bliss, I feel-I feel it all. And the Children are culling On every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide, Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm, And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm :— I hear, I hear, with joy I hear! -But there's a Tree, of many, one, A single Field which I have looked upon, Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream? |