Volume Ii Part 34 (2/2)
How featly they trip it! how happy are they Who pa.s.s all their moments in frolic and play, Who rove where they list, without sorrows or cares, And laugh at the fetters mortality wears!
But where have they vanish'd?--a cloud 's o'er the moon, I 'll hie to the spot,--they 'll be seen again soon-- I hasten--'tis lighter,--and what do I view?-- The fairies were gra.s.ses, the diamonds were dew.
And thus do the sparkling illusions of youth Deceive and allure, and we take them for truth; Too happy are they who the juggle unshroud, Ere the hint to inspect them be brought by a cloud.
SUMMER MORNING.
How pleasant, how pleasant to wander away, O'er the fresh dewy fields at the dawning of day,-- To have all this silence and lightness my own, And revel with Nature, alone,--all alone!
What a flush of young beauty lies scatter'd around, In this calm, holy suns.h.i.+ne, and stillness profound!
The myriads are sleeping, who waken to care, And earth looks like Eden, ere Adam was there.
The herbage, the blossoms, the branches, the skies, That shower on the river their beautiful dyes, The far misty mountains, the wide waving fields, What healthful enjoyment surveying them yields!
Yes, this is the hour Nature's lovers partake, The manna that melts when Life's vapours awake; Another, and thoughts will be busy, oh how Unlike the pure vision they 're ranging in now!
Lo! the hare scudding forth, lo! the trout in the stream Gently splas.h.i.+ng, are stirring the folds of my dream, The cattle are rising, and hark, the first bird,-- And now in full chorus the woodlands are heard.
Oh, who on the summer-clad landscape can gaze, In the orison hour, nor break forth into praise,-- Who, through this fair garden contemplative rove, Nor feel that the Author and Ruler is love?
I ask no hewn temple, sufficient is here; I ask not art's anthems, the woodland is near; The breeze is all risen, each leaf at his call Has a tear drop of grat.i.tude ready to fall!
THERE 'S MUSIC IN THE FLOWING TIDE.
There 's music in the flowing tide, there 's music in the air, There 's music in the swallow's wing, that skims so lightly there, There 's music in each waving tress of grove, and bower, and tree, To eye and ear 'tis music all where Nature revels free.
There 's discord in the gilded halls where lordly rivals meet, There 's discord where the harpers ring to beauty's glancing feet, There 's discord 'neath the jewell'd robe, the wreath, the plume, the crest, Wherever Fas.h.i.+on waves her wand, there discord rules the breast.
There 's music 'neath the cottage eaves, when, at the close of day, Kind-hearted mirth and social ease the toiling hour repay; Though coa.r.s.e the fare, though rude the jest, that cheer that lowly board, There loving hearts and honest lips sweet harmony afford!
Oh! who the music of the groves, the music of the heart, Would barter for the city's din, the frigid tones of art?
The virtues flourish fresh and fair, where rural waters glide.
They shrink and wither, droop and die, where rolls that turbid tide.
AH! FADED IS THAT LOVELY BLOOM.
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