A sea-green river, proud to lave, With current swift and undefiled, The towers of old LUCERNE.
We parted upon solemn ground Far-lifted towards the unfading sky; But all our thoughts were then of Earth That gives to common pleasures birth; And nothing in our hearts we found That prompted even a sigh.
Fetch, sympathising Powers of air, Fetch, ye that post o'er seas and lands, Herbs moistened by Virginian dew, A most untimely grave to strew, Whose turf may never know the care Of kindred human hands!
Beloved by every gentle Muse He left his Transatlantic home:
Europe, a realised romance,
Had opened on his eager glance;
What present bliss!-what golden views! What stores for years to come!
Though lodged within no vigorous frame, His soul her daily tasks renewed, Blithe as the lark on sun-gilt wings High poised-or as the wren that sings In shady places, to proclaim Her modest gratitude.
Not vain is sadly-uttered praise; The words of truth's memorial vow Are sweet as morning fragrance shed From flowers 'mid GOLDAU's ruins bred; As evening's fondly-lingering rays, On RIGHI's silent brow.
Lamented Youth! to thy cold clay Fit obsequies the Stranger paid; And piety shall guard the stone
Which hath not left the spot unknown Where the wild waves resigned their prey-
And that which marks thy bed.
And, when thy Mother weeps for Thee, Lost Youth! a solitary Mother; This tribute from a casual Friend A not unwelcome aid may lend, To feed the tender luxury, The rising pang to smother.*
*The persuasion here expressed was not groundless. The first human consolation that the afflicted Mother felt, was derived from this tribute to her son's memory, a fact which the author learned, at his own residence, from her Daughter, who visited Europe some years afterwards.-Goldau is one of the villages desolated by the fall of part of the Mountain Rossberg.
Left upon a Seat in a Yew-tree, which stands near the lake of Esthwaite, on a desolate part of the shore, commanding a beautiful prospect.
NAY, Traveller! rest. This lonely Yew-tree stands
Far from all human dwelling: what if here No sparkling rivulet spread the verdant herb? What if the bee love not these barren boughs? Yet, if the wind breathe soft, the curling waves, That break against the shore, shall lull thy mind
By one soft impulse saved from vacancy.
That piled these stones, and with the mossy
First covered, and here taught this aged Tree With its dark arms to form a circling bower, I well remember.-He was one who owned No common soul. In youth by science nursed
And led by nature into a wild scene Of lofty hopes, he to the world went forth A favoured Being, knowing no desire
Which genius did not hallow; 'gainst the taint Of dissolute tongues, and jealousy, and hate, And scorn, against all enemies prepared, All but neglect. The world, for so it thought, Owed him no service; wherefore he at once With indignation turned himself away, And with the food of pride sustained his soul In solitude.-Stranger! these gloomy boughs Had charms for him; and here he loved to sit, His only visitants a straggling sheep, The stone-chat, or the glancing sand-piper: And on these barren rocks, with fern and heath, And juniper and thistle, sprinkled o'er, Fixing his downcast eye, he many an hour A morbid pleasure nourished, tracing here An emblem of his own unfruitful life:
And, lifting up his head, he then would gaze On the more distant scene,-how lovely 'tis Thou seest, and he would gaze till it became Far lovelier, and his heart could not sustain The beauty, still more beauteous!
Inly disturbed, to think that others felt
What he must never feel: and so, lost Man! On visionary views would fancy feed,
Till his eye streamed with tears.
He died, this seat his only monument.
If Thou be one whose heart the holy forms, Of young imagination have kept pure, Stranger henceforth be warned; and know that pride,
Howe'er disguised in its own majesty, Is littleness; that he who feels contempt For any living thing, hath faculties
Which he has never used; that thought with him
Is in its infancy. The man whose eye
Is ever on himself doth look on one,
The least of Nature's works, one who might
The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds Unlawful, ever. O be wiser, Thou!
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love; True dignity abides with him alone Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart.
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