Words which she slighted at that day;
But now, when such sad change was wrought, And of that lonely name she thought,
The bells of Rylstone seemed to say, While she sat listening in the shade, With vocal music, “God us ayde!” And all the hills were glad to bear Their part in this effectual prayer.
Nor lacked she Reason's firmest power; But with the White Doe at her side, Up would she climb to Norton Tower,
And thence look round her far and wide, Her fate there measuring; all is stilled, The weak one hath subdued her heart; Behold the prophecy fulfilled, Fulfilled, and she sustains her part! But here her Brother's words have failed; Here hath a milder doom prevailed; That she, of him and all bereft, Hath yet this faithful Partner left; This one Associate, that disproves His words, remains for her, and loves. If tears are shed, they do not fall For loss of him, for one, or all; Yet, sometimes, sometimes doth she weep, Moved gently in her soul's soft sleep; A few tears down her cheek descend For this her last and living Friend.
Bless, tender Hearts, their mutual lot, And bless for both this savage spot, Which Emily doth sacred hold For reasons dear and manifold; Here hath she, here before her sight, Close to the summit of this height, The grassy, rock-encircled Pound In which the Creature first was found. So beautiful the timid Thrall (A spotless Youngling white as foam) Her youngest Brother brought it home; The youngest, then a lusty boy,
Bore it, or led, to Rylstone hall
With heart brimful of pride and joy!
But most to Bolton's sacred Pile, On favoring nights, she loved to go; There ranged through cloister, court, and aisle, Attended by the soft-paced Doe;
Nor feared she in the still moonshine
To look upon Saint Mary's shrine; Nor on the lonely turf that showed Where Francis slept in his last abode. For that she came; there oft she sat Forlorn, but not disconsolate :
And when she from the abyss returned
Of thought, she neither shrunk nor mourned;
Was happy that she lived to greet
Her mute Companion, as it lay
In love and pity at her feet;
How happy in its turn to meet
The recognition! the mild glance
Beamed from that gracious countenance; Communication, like the ray
Of a new morning, to the nature
And prospects of the inferior Creature!
A mortal Song we sing, by dower Encouraged of celestial power; Power which the viewless Spirit shed
By whom we were first visited;
Whose voice we heard, whose hand and wings
Swept like a breeze the conscious strings,
When, left in solitude, erewhile
We stood before this ruined Pile,
And, quitting unsubstantial dreams,
Sang in this Presence kindred themes;
Distress and desolation spread
Through human hearts, and pleasure dead,
Dead, but to live again on earth,
A second and yet nobler birth; Dire overthrow, and yet how high The reascent in sanctity! From fair to fairer; day by day A more divine and loftier way! Even such this blessèd Pilgrim trod, By sorrow lifted towards her God; Uplifted to the purest sky
Of undisturbed mortality.
Her own thoughts loved she; and could bend
And every Sabbath here is found;
Comes with the people when the bells Are heard among the moorland dells, Finds entrance through yon arch, where way Lies open on the Sabbath-day;
Here walks amid the mournful waste
Of prostrate altars, shrines defaced,
And floors encumbered with rich show Of fret-work imagery laid low; Paces softly, or makes halt,
By fractured cell, or tomb, or vault; By plate of monumental brass Dim-gleaming among weeds and grass, And sculptured Forms of Warriors brave: But chiefly by that single grave, That one sequestered hillock green, The pensive visitant is seen. There doth the gentle Creature lie With those adversities unmoved; Calm spectacle, by earth and sky In their benignity approved! And aye, methinks, this hoary Pile, Subdued by outrage and decay, Looks down upon her with a smile, A gracious smile, that seems to say,- “Thou, thou art not a Child of Time, But Daughter of the Eternal Prime!"
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