Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the call 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 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. Both of them speak of something that is gone: The pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream? Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, The youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the man perceives it die away, Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster-child, her inmate man, Behold the child among his new-born blisses,- A mourning or a funeral; And this hath now his heart, And unto this he frames his song: Then will he fit his tongue To dialogues of business, love, or strife; But it will not be long Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride The little actor cons another part, Filling from time to time his humorous stage' Were endless imitation. Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie Thou best philosopher, who yet dost keep In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave; Broods like the day,-a master o'er a slave,- Is something that doth live, The thought of our past years in me doth breed For that which is most worthy to be blest; Of childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast: Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise; But for those obstinate questionings Moving about in worlds not realized, High instincts before which our mortal nature Are But for those first affections, Those shadowy recollections, Are yet a master light of all our seeing; Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy! Hence in a season of calm weather, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea Can in a moment travel thither, And see the children sport upon the shore, Then sing, ye birds! sing, sing a joyous song! We in thought will join your throng; Ye that pipe, and ye that play, Feel the gladness of the May! What though the radiance which was once so bright, Be now for ever taken from my sight, Though nothing can bring back the hour Which having been, must ever be ; In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind. And O, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, To live beneath your more habitual sway. I love the brooks, which down their channels fret, Even more than when I tripped lightly as they ; The innocent brightness of a new-born day Is lovely yet; The clouds that gather round the setting sun LUCY. THREE years she grew in sun and shower, This child I to myself will take,— Myself will to my darling be In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, To kindle or restrain. She shall be sportive as the fawn, The floating clouds their state shall lend Nor shall she fail to see Even in the motions of the storm, Grace that shall mould the maiden's form, By silent sympathy. The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place, Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty, born of murmuring sound, Shall pass into her face. And vital feelings of delight Shall rear her form to stately height, Her virgin bosom swell; Such thoughts to Lucy I will give, Here in this happy dell." C |