Thus in the chosen spot a tie so strong That when his fate had housed him mid a throng The Captive shunned all converse proffered there. Wife, children, kindred, they were dead and gone; One living Stay was left, and on that one O that the good old Man had power to prove, 1846. VIII. SONNET. (TO AN OCTOGENARIAN.) AFFECTIONS lose their object; Time brings forth If love exist no longer, it must die,— To thousands, share not Thou; howe'er bereft, One to whom Heaven assigns that mournful part Still shall be left some corner of the heart 1846. IX. FLOATING ISLAND. [MY poor sister takes a pleasure in repeating these verses, which she composed not long before the beginning of her sad illness.] These lines are by the Author of the Address to the Wind, &c. published heretofore along with my Poems. The above to a Redbreast are by a deceased female Relative. HARMONIOUS Powers with Nature work Once did I see a slip of earth (By throbbing waves long undermined) Loosed from its hold; how, no one knew, But all might see it float, obedient to the wind; Might see it, from the mossy shore Dissevered, float upon the Lake, Float with its crest of trees adorned On which the warbling birds their pastime take. Food, shelter, safety, there they find; A peopled world it is; in size a tiny room. And thus through many seasons' space Perchance when you are wandering forth Without an object, hope, or fear, the Isle is passed away; Buried beneath the glittering Lake, How beautiful the Queen of Night, on high But look, and to the watchful eye A brightening edge will indicate that soon Break forth,—again to walk the clear blue sky. XI. ["No faculty yet given me to espy The dusky Shape within her arms imbound." Afterwards, when I could not avoid seeing it, I wondered at this, and the more so because, like most children, I had been in the habit of watching the moon through all her changes, and had often continued to gaze at it when at the full, till half blinded.] 'Late, late yestreen I saw the new moone Wi' the auld moone in hir arme.' Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence, Percy's Reliques. ONCE I could hail (howe'er serene the sky) The dusky Shape within her arms imbound, Which some have named her Predecessor's ghost. Young, like the Crescent that above me shone, I saw (ambition quickening at the view) Or was it Dian's self that seemed to move And when I learned to mark the spectral Shape Now, dazzling Stranger! when thou meet'st my glance, Thy dark Associate ever I discern; Emblem of thoughts too eager to advance While I salute my joys, thoughts sad or stern; So changes mortal Life with fleeting years; While Faith aspires to seats in that domain 1826. |