New .re and joy th' expanding flowret feels: His pitying Mistress mourns, and mourning heals!
ON HIS PROPOSING TO DOMESTICATE WITH THE
A MOUNT, not wearisome and bare and steep, But a green Mountain variously up-pil❜d, Where o'er the jutting rocks soft mosses creep Or colour'd lichens with slow oozing weep; Where cypress and the darker yew start wild; And mid the summer torrent's gentle dash Dance brighten'd the red clusters of the ash; Beneath whose boughs, by stilly sounds beguil'd, Calm Pensiveness might muse herself to sleep: Till haply startled by some fleecy dam, That rustling on the bushy cliff above With melancholy bleat of anxious love Made meek inquiry for her wand'ring lamb : Such a green Mountain 'twere most sweet, to climb E'en while the bosom ach'd with loneliness-
How heavenly sweet, if some dear Friend should bless Th' advent'rous toil, and up the path sublime Now led, now follow; the glad landscape round, Wide and more wide, increasing without bound!
O then 'twere loveliest sympathy, to mark The berries of the half up-rooted ash Dripping and bright; and list the torrent's dash- Beneath the cypress or the yew more dark, Seated at ease, on some smooth mossy rock, In social silence now, and now t'unlock The treasur'd heart; arm link'd in friendly arm, Save if the one, his muse's witching charm Mutt'ring brow-bent, at unwatch'd distance lag;
Till high o'er head his beck'ning Friend appears, And from the forehead of the topmost crag Shouts eagerly: for haply there uprears That shadowing Pine its old romantic limbs, Which latest shall detain th' enamour'd sight Seen from below, when Eve the valley dims, Ting'd yellow with the rich departing light; And haply, basin'd in some unsunn'd cleft, A beauteous spring, the rock's collected tears, Sleeps shelter'd there, scarce wrinkled by the gale ! Together thus, the world's vain turmoil left, Stretch'd on the crag, and shadow'd by the pine, And bending o'er the clear delicious fount, Ah dearest Lloyd! it were a lot divine
To cheat our noons in moralizing mood,
While west-winds fann'd our temples toil-bedew'd. Then downwards slope, oft-pausing, from the mount, To some low mansion in some woody dale, Where smiling with blue eye Domestic Bliss Gives this the husband's, that the brother's kiss!
Thus rudely vers'd in allegoric lore,
The hill of knowledge I essay'd to trace;
That verd'rous hill with many a resting place,
And many a stream, whose warbling waters pour To glad, and fertilize the subject plains; That hill with secret springs, and nooks untrod, And many a fancy-bless'd and holy sod, Where inspiration, his diviner strains
Low-murm'ring, lay; and startling from the rocks Stiff evergreens, whose spreading foliage mocks Want's barren soil, and the bleak frosts of age, And mad oppression's thunder-clasping rage! O meek retiring Spirit! we will climb, Cheering and cheer'd, this lovely hill sublime,
And from the stirring world uplifted hign (Whose noises faintly wafted on the wind To quiet musings shall attune the mind, And oft the melancholy theme supply) There while the prospect thro' the gazing eye Pours all its healthful greenness on the soul, We'll laugh at wealth, and learn to laugh at fame, Our hopes, our knowledge, and our joys the same, As neighb'ring fountains image, each the whole: Then when the mind has drunk its fill of truth, We'll discipline the heart to pure delight, Rekindling sober joy's domestic flame,
She, whom I love, shall love thee. Honour'd youth, Now may Heaven realize this vision bright!
RELIGIOUS MUSINGS.
A DESULTORY POEM, WRITTEN ON THE CHRISTMAS EVE OF 1794.
In years unseason'd, I attun'd the Lay To idle Passion and unreal Woe ? Yet serious Truth her empire o'er my song Hath now asserted: Falsehood's evil brood, Vice and deceitful Pleasure, she at once Excluded, and my Fancy's careless toil Drew to the better cause !
Introduction. Person of Christ. His prayer on the Cross. The progress of his Doctrines on the mind of the Individual. Character of the elect. Superstition. Digression to the present War. Origin and Uses of Government and Property. The present state of Society. French Revolution. Millennium. Universal Redemption. Conclusion. THIS is the time, when, most divine to hear, The voice of Adoration rouses me, As with a Cherub's trump: and high upborne, Yea, mingling with the Choir, I seem to view
The vision of the heavenly multitude,
Who hymn'd the song of Peace o'er Bethlehem's fields!
Yet thou more bright than all the Angel blaze, That harbinger'd thy birth, Thou, Man of Woes! Despised Gallilean! For the Great
Invisible (by symbols only seen)
With a peculiar and surpassing light
Shines from the visage of th' oppress'd good Man, When heedless of himself the scourged Saint Mourns for th' Oppressor. Fair the vernal Mead, Fair the high Grove, the Sea, the Sun, the Stars, True Impress each of their creating Sire! Yet nor high Grove, nor many colour'd Mead, Nor the green Ocean with his thousand Isles, Nor the starr'd Azure, nor the sov'reign Sun, E'er with such majesty of portraiture Imag'd the supreme beauty uncreate,
As thou, Meek Saviour; at the fearful hour When thy insulted Anguish wing'd the prayer Harp'd by Archangels, when they sing of Mercy. Which when th' Almighty heard, from forth his Throne, Diviner light fill'd Heaven with ecstasy;
Heaven's hymnings paus'd: and Hell her yawning mouth
Of Him, whose Life was Love! Holy with power He on the thought-benighted Sceptic beam'd Manifest Godhead, melting into day
What floating mists of dark idolatry Broke and misshap'd the Omnipresent Sire· And first by fear uncharm'd the droused Soul, Till of its nobler Nature it 'gan feel
Dim recollections; and thence soar'd to Hope,
Strong to believe whate'er of mystic good Th' Eternal dooms for his Immortal Sons.
From Hope and firmer Faith to perfect Love Attracted and absorb'd: and centred there God only to behold, and know, and feel, Till by exclusive Consciousness of God All self-annihilated it shall make God its Identity: God all in all ! We and our Father one!
And bless'd are they, Who in this fleshly World, the elect of Heaven, Their strong eye darting thro' the deeds of Men, Adore with steadfast unpresuming gaze Him Nature's Essence, Mind, and Energy! And gazing, trembling, patiently ascend, Treading beneath their feet all visible things As steps, that upward to their Father's Throne Lead gradual-else nor glorified nor lov❜d. They nor Contempt imbosom nor Revenge: For they dare know of what may seem deform The Supreme Fair sole Operant : in whose sight All things are pure, his strong controlling Love Alike from all educing perfect good.
Theirs too celestial courage, inly arm'd— Dwarfing Earth's giant brood, what time they muse On their great Father, great beyond compare! And marching onwards view high o'er their heads His waving Banners of Omnipotence.
Who the Creator love, created might
Dread not within their tents no Terrors walk
For they are Holy Things before the Lord
Aye-unprofan'd, tho' Earth should league with Hell
God's Altar grasping with an eager hand
Fear, the wild-visag'd, pale, eye-starting wretch,
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