"No check, no stay this Streamlet fears ; How merrily it goes!
"Twill murmur on a thousand years,
And flow as now it flows.
"And here on this delightful day,
I cannot choose but think
How oft, a vigorous man, I lay
Beside this fountain's brink.
"My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirr'd,
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.
"Thus fares it still in our decay:
And yet the wiser mind
Mourns less for what age takes away,
Than what it leaves behind.
"The blackbird amid leafy trees,
The lark above the hill,
Let loose their carols when they please, Are quiet when they will.
"With nature never do they wage
A foolish strife; they see
A happy youth, and their old age
Is beautiful and free:
"But we are press'd by heavy laws,
And often, glad no more,
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.
"If there is one who needs bemoan
His kindred laid in earth,
The household hearts that were his own,
It is the man of mirth.
"My days, my Friend, are almost gone, My life has been approved,
And many love me; but by none
Am I enough beloved."
"Now both himself and me he wrongs,
The man who thus complains!
I live and sing my idle songs
Upon these happy plains.
"And, Matthew, for thy children dead
I'll be a son to thee !"
At this he grasp'd my hand, and said,
"Alas! that cannot be."
We rose up from the fountain side;
And down the smooth descent
Of the green sheep-track did we glide,
And through the woods we went;
And ere we came to Leonard's rock,
He sang those witty rhymes
About the crazy old church-clock,
And the bewilder'd chimes.
A Star has left the Kindling Sky.*
A STAR has left the kindling sky—
A lovely northern light;
How many planets are on high,
But that has left the night!
I miss its bright familiar face,
It was a friend to me;
Associate with my native place,
And those beyond the sea.
It rose upon our English sky,
Shone o'er our English land,
And brought back many a loving eye,
And many a gentle hand.
It seem'd to answer to my thought,
It call'd the past to mind,
And with its welcome presence brought
All I had left behind.
The voyage it lights no longer, ends
Soon on a foreign shore;
How can I but recall the friends
That I may see no more?
*These were the last verses of Miss Landon; and are written in allusion to the pole-star which, in her voyage to Africa she had nightly watched till it sunk below the horizon.
Fresh from the pain it was to part―
How could I bear the pain?
Yet strong the omen in my heart
That says-We meet again.
Meet with a deeper, dearer love:
For absence shews the worth
Of all from which we then remove,
Friends, home, and native earth.
Thou lovely polar star, mine eyes
Still turn'd. the first on thee,
Till I have felt a sad surprise
That none look'd up with me.
But thou hast sunk upon the wave,
Thy radiant place unknown;
I seem to stand beside a grave,
And stand by it alone.
Farewell! ah, would to me were given
A power upon thy light!
What words upon our English heaven
Thy loving rays should write!
Kind messages of love and hope
Upon thy rays should be;
Thy shining orbit should have scope
Scarcely enough for me.
Oh, fancy vain, as it is fond,
And little needed too;
My friends! I need not look beyond
My heart to look for you.
SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER SELKIRK, DURING HIS SOLITANY
ABODE ON THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.
I AM monarch of all I survey;
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.
I am out of humanity's reach,
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech;
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts that roam over the plain
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.
Society, Friendship, and Love,
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
O had I the wings of a dove
How soon would I taste you again!
My sorrows I then might assuage
In the ways of religion and truth,
Might learn from the wisdom of age,
And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.
Ye winds that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial endearing report
Of a land I shall visit no more:
My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see!
How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light.
When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there;
But alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.
But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair;
Even here is a season of rest,
And I to my cabin repair.
There's mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.
SOME I remember, and will ne'er forget;
My early friends, friends of my evil day :
Friends in my mirth, friends in my misery too,
Friends given by God in mercy and in love;
My counsellors, my comforters, and guides,
My joy in grief, my second bliss in joy;
Companions of my young desires; in doubt,
My oracles, my wings in high pursuit.
O, I remember, and will ne'er forget
Our meeting spots, our chosen sacred hours,
Our burning words that utter'd all the soul,
Our faces beaming with unearthly love;
Sorrow with sorrow sighing, hope with hope
Exulting, heart embracing, heart entire !
As birds of social feather helping each
His fellow's flight, we soar'd into the skies,
And cast the clouds beneath our feet, and earth,
With all her tardy leaden-footed cares,
And talk'd the speech, and ate the food of heaven!
These I remember, these selectest men,
And would their names record; but what avails
My mention of their names? Before the throne
They stand illustrious 'mong the loudest harps,
And will receive thee glad, my friend and theirs-
For all are friends in heaven, all faithful friends;
And many friendships in the days of time
Begun, are lasting here, and growing still;
So grows ours evermore, both theirs and mine.
The Light of other Days.
OFT in the stilly night
Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me :
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood's years,
The words of love then spoken:
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm'd and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
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