Yet being to myself a guide, Too blindly have reposed my trust: The task, in smoother walks to stray; Through no disturbance of my soul, Me this unchartered freedom tires; I feel the weight of chance-desires : My hopes no more must change their name, I long for a repose that ever is the same. 40 Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear As is the smile upon thy face: Flowers laugh before thee on their beds 45 And fragrance in thy footing treads; And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! TO A SKY-LARK. Up with me! up with me into the clouds ! Up with me, up with me into the clouds ! With clouds and sky about thee ringing, That spot which seems so to thy mind! I have walked through wildernesses dreary, Had I now the wings of a Faery, Up to thee would I fly. There is madness about thee, and joy divine Lift me, guide me, high and high, To thy banqueting-place in the sky. Joyous as morning, Thou art laughing and scorning; Thou hast a nest for thy love and thy rest, And, though little troubled with sloth, To be such a traveller as I. Happy, happy Liver, With a soul as strong as a mountain river Joy and jollity be with us both! Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven, As full of gladness and as free of heaven, I, with my fate contented, will plod on, And hope for higher raptures, when life's day is done. 30 FIDELITY. A BARKING Sound the Shepherd hears, He halts and searches with his eyes Among the scattered rocks : The Dog is not of mountain breed; Its motions, too, are wild and shy; With something, as the Shepherd thinks, Nor is there any one in sight 1805. 5 IO 1 Tarn is a small Mere, or Lake, mostly high up in the mountains. There sometimes doth a leaping fish Thither the rainbow comes - the cloud Not free from boding thoughts, a while Nor far had gone before he found At length upon the Shepherd's mind It breaks, and all is clear: 45 He instantly recalled the name, And who he was, and whence he came ; This Dog, had been through three months' space A dweller in that savage place. 40 35 330 25 Yes, proof was plain that, since the day The Dog had watched about the spot, Or by his master's side: How nourished here through such long time 60 65 1805. ELEGIAC STANZAS. SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE OF PEELE CASTLE, IN A STORM, I WAS thy neighbour once, thou rugged Pile ! So pure the sky, so quiet was the air! How perfect was the calm! it seemed no sleep; Ah! THEN, if mine had been the Painter's hand, The light that never was, on sea or land, The consecration, and the Poet's dream ; 5 ΙΟ 15 |