Poems In Two Volumes, vol 2 | Page 6

eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then
my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.
8.
Who fancied what a pretty sight
This Rock would be if edged around

With living Snowdrops? circlet bright!
How glorious to this
Orchard ground!
Who loved the little Rock, and set
Upon its Head
this Coronet?
Was it the humour of a Child?
Or rather of some love-sick Maid,

Whose brows, the day that she was styled
The Shepherd Queen, were
thus arrayed?
Of Man mature, or Matron sage?
Or old Man toying
with his age?
I ask'd--'twas whisper'd, The device
To each or all might well belong.

It is the Spirit of Paradise
That prompts such work, a Spirit strong,

That gives to all the self-same bent
Where life is wise and
innocent.
9. THE SPARROW'S NEST.
Look, five blue eggs are gleaming there!
Few visions have I seen
more fair,
Nor many prospects of delight
More pleasing than that
simple sight!
I started seeming to espy
The home and shelter'd bed,

The Sparrow's dwelling, which, hard by
My Father's House, in wet
or dry,
My Sister Emmeline and I
Together visited. 10
She look'd at it as if she fear'd it;
Still wishing, dreading to be near it:

Such heart was in her, being then
A little Prattler among men.

The Blessing of my later years
Was with me when a Boy;
She gave
me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares, and delicate fears;
A
heart, the fountain of sweet tears;

And love, and thought, and joy. 20
10. GIPSIES.
Yet are they here?--the same unbroken knot
Of human Beings, in the
self-same spot!
Men, Women, Children, yea the frame
Of the whole Spectacle the
same!
Only their fire seems bolder, yielding light:
Now deep and
red, the colouring of night;
That on their Gipsy-faces falls,
Their bed of straw and blanket-walls.

--Twelve hours, twelve bounteous hours, are gone while I
Have
been a Traveller under open sky, 10
Much witnessing of change and chear,
Yet as I left I find them here!
The weary Sun betook himself to rest.
--Then issued Vesper from the
fulgent West,
Outshining like a visible God
The glorious path in which he trod.

And now, ascending, after one dark hour,
And one night's diminution
of her power,
Behold the mighty Moon! this way
She looks as if at them--but they
20 Regard not her:--oh better wrong and strife,
Better vain deeds or
evil than such life!
The silent Heavens have goings on;
The stars have tasks--but these
have none.
11. TO THE CUCKOO.
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice:
O
Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
While I am lying on the grass,
I hear thy restless shout:
From hill to

hill it seems to pass,
About, and all about!
To me, no Babbler with a tale
Of sunshine and of flowers, 10 Thou
tellest, Cuckoo! in the vale
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, Darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No
Bird; but an invisible Thing,
A voice, a mystery.
The same whom in my School-boy days
I listen'd to; that Cry

Which made me look a thousand ways;
In bush, and tree, and sky. 20
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And
thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still long'd for, never seen!
And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain.
And listen, till I
do beget
That golden time again.
O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be 30 An
unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
12. TO A BUTTERFLY.
I've watch'd you now a full half hour,
Self-pois'd upon that yellow
flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep, or feed.

How motionless! not frozen seas
More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the
trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of Orchard-ground is ours; 10 My trees they are, my Sister's
flowers;
Stop here whenever you are weary,
And rest as in a
sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the
bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song;
And summer days, when
we were young,
Sweet childish days, that were as long

As twenty days are now!
13.
It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown,
And is descending on his
embassy;
Nor Traveller gone from Earth the Heavens to espy!
'Tis
Hesperus--there he stands with glittering crown,
First admonition that
the sun is down!
For yet it is broad day-light: clouds pass by;
A few
are near him still--and now the sky,
He hath it to himself--'tis all his
own.
O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought
Within me when I
recognised thy light;
A moment I was startled at the sight:
And,
while I gazed, there came to me a thought
That I might step beyond
my natural race
As thou seem'st now to do; might one day trace

Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above,
My Soul, an
Apparition in the place,
Tread there, with steps that no one shall
reprove!
THE BLIND HIGHLAND BOY; WITH OTHER POEMS.
THE BLIND HIGHLAND BOY.
(A Tale told by the Fire-side.)
Now we are tired of