Page images
PDF
EPUB

Where was it that the famous Flower
Of Yarrow Vale lay bleeding?

His bed perchance was yon smooth mound
On which the herd is feeding:
And haply from this crystal pool
Now peaceful as the morning,
The water-Wraith ascended thrice,
And gave his doleful warning.

Delicious is the Lay that sings
The haunts of happy lovers,

The path that leads them to the grove,
The leafy grove that covers:

And pity sanctifies the verse

That paints, by strength of sorrow,

The unconquerable strength of love;
Bear witness, rueful Yarrow!

But thou that didst appear so fair

To fond imagination

Dost rival in the light of day

Her delicate creation:

Meek loveliness is round thee spread,

A softness still and holy:

The grace of forest charms decay'd,

And pastoral melancholy.

That region left, the vale unfolds

Rich groves of lofty stature,

With Yarrow winding through the pomp

Of cultivated Nature;

And rising from those lofty groves

Behold a ruin hoary,

The shatter'd front of Newark's Towers,

Renown'd in Border story.

Fair scenes for childhood's opening bloom,

For sportive youth to stray in,

For manhood to enjoy his strength,

And

age to wear away in!

Yon cottage seems a bower of bliss,
A covert for protection

Of studious ease and generous cares
And every chaste affection!

How sweet on this autumnal day
The wild-wood fruits to gather,

And on my true-love's forehead plant

A crest of blooming heather!
And what if I enwreathed my own?

"T were no offence to reason;

The sober hills thus deck their brows
To meet the wintry season.

I see but not by sight alone,
Loved Yarrow, have I won thee;
A ray of Fancy still survives -
Her sunshine plays upon thee!
Thy ever-youthful waters keep
A course of lively pleasure;

And gladsome notes my lips can breathe
Accordant to the measure.

The vapours linger round the heights,

They melt, and soon must vanish;
One hour is theirs, nor more is mine
Sad thought! which I would banish,
But that I know, where'er I go,
Thy genuine image, Yarrow!
Will dwell with me, to heighten joy
And cheer
my mind in sorrow.

W. WORDSWORTH

B

CCLIX

THE INVITATION

EST and Brightest, come away,

Fairer far than this fair day,

Which, like thee, to those in sorrow
Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow
To the rough year just awake
In its cradle on the brake.

The brightest hour of unborn Spring
Through the winter wandering,
Found, it seems, the halcyon morn
To hoar February born;

Bending from Heaven, in azure mirth,
It kiss'd the forehead of the earth,
And smiled upon the silent sea,
And bade the frozen streams be free,
And waked to music all their fountains,
And breathed upon the frozen mountains,
And like a prophetess of May

Strew'd flowers upon the barren way,
Making the wintry world appear

Like one on whom thou smilest, Dear.

Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs

To the silent wilderness

Where the soul need not repress
Its music, lest it should not find
An echo in another's mind,
While the touch of Nature's art
Harmonizes heart to heart.

Radiant Sister of the Day
Awake! arise! and come away!

To the wild woods and the plains,
To the pools where winter rains
Image all their roof of leaves,
Where the pine its garland weaves

Of sapless green, and ivy dun,
Round stems that never kiss the sun,
Where the lawns and pastures be
And the sandhills of the sea,

Where the melting hoar-frost wets
The daisy-star that never sets,
And wind-flowers and violets
Which yet join not scent to hue
Crown the pale year weak and new;
When the night is left behind
In the deep east, dim and blind,
And the blue noon is over us,

And the multitudinous
Billows murmur at our feet,

Where the earth and ocean meet,

And all things seem only one

In the universal Sun.

CCLX

P. B. SHELLEY

THE RECOLLECTION

OW the last day of many days

NOW

All beautiful and bright as thou,

The loveliest and the last, is dead:
Rise, Memory, and write its praise!

Up, do thy wonted work! come, trace

The epitaph of glory fled,

For now the earth has changed its face,

A frown is on the Heaven's brow.

[graphic][subsumed]
« PreviousContinue »