In sweet dreams softer than unbroken rest Thou leddest by the hand thine infant Hope. The eddying of her garments caught from thee The light of thy great presence; and the cope Of the half-attain'd futurity, Though deep not fathomless, Was cloven with the million stars which tremble O strengthen me, enlighten me! Thou dewy dawn of memory. 4 Come forth I charge thee, arise, Thou of the many tongues, the myriad eyes! Thou comest not with shows of flaunting vines Unto mine inner eye, Divinest Memory! Thou wert not nursed by the waterfall Which ever sounds and shines A pillar of white light upon the wall Of purple cliffs, aloof descried: Come from the woods that belt the gray hill-side, The seven elms, the poplars four That stand beside my father's door, And chiefly from the brook that loves To purl o'er matted cress and ribbed sand, The filter'd tribute of the rough woodland. Pour round mine ears the livelong bleat When the first matin-song hath waken'd loud What time the amber morn Forth gushes from beneath a low-hung cloud. 5 Large dowries doth the raptured eye When first she is wed; And like a bride of old In triumph led, With music and sweet showers Unto the dwelling she must sway. With royal frame-work of wrought gold; Place it, where sweetest sunlight falls For the discovery And newness of thine art so pleased thee, The first-born of thy genius. Ever retiring thou dost gaze Artist-like, On the prime labour of thine early days: Whether the high field on the bushless Pike, Or even a sand-built ridge Of heaped hills that mound the sea, Overblown with murmurs harsh, Or even a lowly cottage whence we see Stretch'd wide and wild the waste enormous marsh, Where from the frequent bridge, Like emblems of infinity, The trenched waters run from sky to sky; Or a garden bower'd close With plaited alleys of the trailing rose, Long alleys falling down to twilight grots, Of crowned lilies, standing near Purple-spiked lavender : Whither in after life retired From brawling storms, From weary wind, With youthful fancy reinspired, We may hold converse with all forms Of the many-sided mind, And those whom passion hath not blinded, My friend, with you to live alone, Thou dewy dawn of memory. (1853) XXIII SONG I I' THE glooming light Of middle night So cold and white, Worn Sorrow sits by the moaning wave ; Her mattock and spade, For she hath half delved her own deep grave. The white clouds drizzle: her hair falls loose; Her tears are mixed with the beaded dews. Death standeth by; She will not die; With glazed eye 2 She looks at her grave: she cannot sleep; She maketh her moan: She cannot speak; she can only weep, For she will not hope. The thick snow falls on her flake by flake, The dull wave mourns down the slope, The world will not change, and her heart will not break. (1830) XXIV SONG I A SPIRIT haunts the year's last hours For at eventide, listening earnestly, At his work you may hear him sob and sigh Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks Of the mouldering flowers : Heavily hangs the broad sunflower Heavily hangs the tiger-lily. 2 The air is damp, and hush'd, and close, My very heart faints and my whole soul grieves Of the fading edges of box beneath, And the year's last rose. (1853) Heavily hangs the broad sunflower Heavily hangs the tiger-lily. XXV ADELINE I MYSTERY of mysteries, Faintly smiling Adeline, But beyond expression fair Thy rose-lips and full blue eyes Take the heart from out my breast 2 Whence that aery bloom of thine, Or a phantom two hours old 3 What hope or fear or joy is thine? Do beating hearts of salient springs Hast thou heard the butterflies With what voice the violet woos Or when little airs arise, Of the lilies at sunrise? Wherefore that faint smile of thine, 4 Some honey-converse feeds thy mind, In love with thee forgets to close And those dew-lit eyes of thine, 5 Lovest thou the doleful wind When thou gazest at the skies? Doth the low-tongued Orient Wander from the side of the morn, On thy pillow, lowly bent With melodious airs lovelorn, Breathing Light against thy face, While his locks a-dropping twined Round thy neck in subtle ring |