268

A DREAM OF THE UNKNOWN

I dream'd that as I wander'd by the way
Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,
Mix'd with a sound of waters murmuring
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kiss'd it and then fled, as thou mightest in
dream.

There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,

Daisies, those pearl'd Arcturi of the earth, The constellated flower that never sets;

5

10

Faint oxlips; tender blue-bells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets

15

Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth— Its mother's face with heaven's collected tears, When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears. And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine,

Green cow-bind and the moonlight-colour'd may, And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine Was the bright dew yet drain'd not by the day; And wild roses, and ivy serpentine

21

With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; And flowers azure, black, and streak'd with gold, Fairer than any waken'd eyes behold.

And nearer to the river's trembling edge

25

There grew broad flag-flowers, purple prank with white,

And starry river buds among the sedge,
And floating water-lilies, broad and bright,
Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge

31

With moonlight beams of their own watery light; And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.

Methought that of these visionary flowers

36

I made a nosegay, bound in such a way That the same hues, which in their natural bowers Were mingled or opposed, the like array Kept these imprison'd children of the Hours Within my hand,—and then, elate and gay, I hasten'd to the spot whence I had come, That I might there present it—O ! to Whom? P. B. SHELLEY.

269

THE INNER VISION

Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes

To pace the ground, if path be there or none, While a fair region round the traveller lies Which he forbears again to look upon;

Pleased rather with some soft ideal scene,
The work of Fancy, or some happy tone
Of meditation, slipping in between

The beauty coming and the beauty gone.

If Thought and Love desert us, from that day Let us break off all commerce with the Muse: With Thought and Love companions of our way—

5

12

Whate'er the senses take or may refuse,— The Mind's internal heaven shall shed her dews Of inspiration on the humblest lay.

W. WORDSWORTH.

270

THE REALM OF FANCY

Ever let the Fancy roam !
Pleasure never is at home:

At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;

5

Then let wingéd Fancy wander
Through the thought still spread beyond her:
Open wide the mind's cage-door,

She'll dart forth, and cloudward soar.
O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer's joys are spoilt by use,
And the enjoying of the Spring
Fades as does its blossoming :
Autumn's red-lipp'd fruitage too,
Blushing through the mist and dew,
Cloys with tasting: What do then?
Sit thee by the ingle, when
The sear faggot blazes bright,
Spirit of a winter's night;

When the soundless earth is muffled,
And the cakéd snow is shuffled

From the ploughboy's heavy shoon;
When the Night doth meet the Noon
In a dark conspiracy

10

15

20

To banish Even from her sky.
-Sit thee there, and send abroad,

25

With a mind self-overawed,

Fancy, high-commission'd :-send her!
She has vassals to attend her;

She will bring, in spite of frost,

Beauties that the earth hath lost;

30

She will bring thee, all together,
All delights of summer weather;
All the buds and bells of May
From dewy sward or thorny spray ;
All the heapéd Autumn's wealth,
With a still, mysterious stealth;
She will mix these pleasures up
Like three fit wines in a cup,

And thou shalt quaff it ;-thou shalt hear
Distant harvest-carols clear;

Rustle of the reapéd corn ;

Sweet birds antheming the morn:

And in the same moment-hark!

"Tis the early April lark,

35

40

Or the rooks, with busy caw,
Foraging for sticks and straw.
Thou shalt, at one glance, behold
The daisy and the marigold ;
White-plumed lilies, and the first
Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst;
Shaded hyacinth, alway

Sapphire queen of the mid-May;
And every leaf, and every flower
Pearléd with the self-same shower.
Thou shalt see the field-mouse peep
Meagre from its celléd sleep;
And the snake all winter-thin
Cast on sunny bank its skin ;
Freckled nest-eggs thou shalt see
Hatching in the hawthorn-tree,
When the hen-bird's wing doth rest

45

50

55

60

Quiet on her mossy nest;

Where's the cheek that doth not fade,
Too much gazed at? Where's the maid

70

Whose lip mature is ever new?
Where's the eye, however blue,
Doth not weary? Where's the face
One would meet in every place?
Where's the voice, however soft,
One would hear so very oft?
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth.
Let then wingéd Fancy find
Thee a mistress to thy mind :
Dulcet-eyed as Ceres' daughter,
Ere the God of Torment taught her
How to frown and how to chide;

75

80

With a waist and with a side
White as Hebe's, when her zone
Slipt its golden clasp, and down
Fell her kirtle to her feet,

While she held the goblet sweet,

And Jove grew languid.-Break the mesh
Of the Fancy's silken leash;

Quickly break her prison-string,

And such joys as these she'll bring.
Let the wingéd Fancy roam !
Pleasure never is at home.

J. KEATS.

85

90

271

HYMN TO THE SPIRIT OF NATURE

Life of Life! thy lips enkindle

With their love the breath between them ; And thy smiles before they dwindle

Make the cold air fire; then screen them
In those looks, where whoso gazes
Faints, entangled in their mazes.

Child of Light! thy limbs are burning

Through the vest which seems to hide them,

As the radiant lines of morning

Through the clouds, ere they divide them;

And this atmosphere divinest

Shrouds thee wheresoe'er thou shinest.

5

9

Fair are others: none beholds thee;

But thy voice sounds low and tender

Like the fairest, for it folds thee

From the sight, that liquid splendour ; And all feel, yet see thee never,

15

As I feel now, lost for ever!

Lamp of Earth! where'er thou movest

Its dim shapes are clad with brightness,

20