Thy visionary majesties of light,
How in thy pensive glooms our hearts found rest.
WHILE beams of orient light shoot wide and high, Deep in the vale a little rural Town*
Breathes forth a cloud-like creature of its own, That mounts not toward the radiant morning sky, But, with a less ambitious sympathy,
Hangs o'er its Parent waking to the cares, Troubles, and toils that every day prepares. So Fancy, to the musing Poet's eye,
Endears that Lingerer. And how blest her sway (Like influence never may my soul reject) If the calm Heaven, now to its zenith decked With glorious forms in numberless array,
To the lone shepherd on the hills disclose Gleams from a world in which the saints repose. Jan. 1, 1843.
In my mind's eye a Temple, like a cloud Slowly surmounting some invidious hill
Rose out of darkness: the bright Work stood still; And might of its own beauty have been proud,
But it was fashioned and to God was vowed By Virtues that diffused, in every part, Spirit divine through forms of human art :
Faith had her arch, — her arch, when winds blow
Into the consciousness of safety thrilled;
And Love her towers of dread foundation laid Under the grave of things; Hope had her spire Star-high, and pointing still to something higher: Trembling I gazed, but heard a voice, it said, "Hell-gates are powerless Phantoms when we build."
ON THE PROJECTED KENDAL AND WINDERMERE RAILWAY.
Is then no nook of English ground secure From rash assault?* Schemes of retirement sown In youth, and 'mid the busy world kept pure As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown, Must perish; - how can they this blight endure?
*The degree and kind of attachment which many of the yeomanry feel to their small inheritances can scarcely be overrated. Near the house of one of them stands a magnificent tree, which a neighbor of the owner advised him to fell for profit's sake. "Fell it!" exclaimed the yeoman, "I had rather fall on my knees and worship it." It happens, I believe, that the intended railway would pass through this little property, and I hope that an apology for the answer will not be thought necessary by one who enters into the strength of the feeling.
And must he too the ruthless change bemoan Who scorns a false utilitarian lure
'Mid his paternal fields at random thrown? Baffle the threat, bright Scene, from Orrest-head Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance: Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance Of nature; and, if human hearts be dead, Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong And constant voice, protest against the wrong. October 12th, 1844.
PROUD were ye, Mountains, when, in times of old, Your patriot sons, to stem invasive war,
Intrenched your brows; ye gloried in each scar: Now, for your shame, a Power, the Thirst of Gold, That rules o'er Britain like a baneful star, Wills that your peace, your beauty, shall be sold, And clear way made for her triumphal car Through the beloved retreats your arms enfold! Heard YE that Whistle? As her long-linked Train Swept onwards, did the vision cross your view? Yes, ye were startled; and, in balance true Weighing the mischief with the promised gain, Mountains, and Vales, and Floods, I call on you To share the passion of a just disdain.
HERE, where, of havoc tired and rash undoing, Man left this Structure to become Time's prey, A soothing spirit follows in the way
That Nature takes, her counter-work pursuing. See how her Ivy clasps the sacred Ruin, Fall to prevent or beautify decay;
And, on the mouldered walls, how bright, how gay, The flowers in pearly dews their bloom renewing! Thanks to the place, blessings upon the hour; Even as I speak, the rising Sun's first smile Gleams on the grass-crowned top of yon tall Tower Whose cawing occupants with joy proclaim Prescriptive title to the shattered pile
Where, Cavendish, thine seems nothing but name!
WELL have yon Railway Laborers to THIS ground Withdrawn for noontide rest. They sit, they walk Among the Ruins, but no idle talk
Is heard; to grave demeanor all are bound; And from one voice a Hymn with tuneful sound Hallows once more the long-deserted Choir, And thrills the old, sepulchral earth around.
Others look up, and with fixed eyes admire
That wide-spanned arch, wondering how it was raised,
To keep, so high in air, its strength and grace: All seem to feel the spirit of the place,
And by the general reverence God is praised: Profane Despoilers, stand ye not reproved, While thus these simple-hearted men are moved? June 21st, 1845.
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