TO THE CUCKOO. BLITHE new-comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice : Or but a wandering voice? While I am lying on the grass, Thy twofold shout I hear, That seems to fill the whole air's space As loud far off as near. Though babbling only to the vale Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the spring! Even yet thou art to me A voice, a mystery; The same whom in my schoolboy days I listen’d to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways, In bush, and tree, and sky. 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 That golden time again. O blessed bird ! the earth we pace Again appears to be That is fit home for thee! LONDON AT SUNRISE. EARTH has not anything to show more fair : Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty : This city now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep ! The river glideth at his own sweet will : Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still ! NATURE. NATURE never did betray The heart that loved her ; 'tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead COLERIDGE. AN EQUATORIAL CALM. The furrow follow'd free; Into that silent sea. The wory deep did rot -0 Christ! Thatever this should be! I'm the slimy with Alwat, slut, in rool and rout The death fires danced at night; The water, like a witch's oils, and blue, and white. LIBERTY. YE clouds! that far above me float and pause, Whose pathless march no mortal may control ! Ye ocean-waves ! that, wheresoe'er ye roll, Yield homage only to eternal laws ! Ye woods! that listen to the night-bird's singing, Midway the smooth and perilous slope reclined, Save when your own imperious branches, swinging, Have made a solemn music of the wind ! How oft, pursuing fancies holy, Inspired beyond the guess of folly, By each rude shape and wild unconquerable sound ! O ye loud waves! and O ye forests high ! And O ye clouds that far above me soar'd ! Thou rising sun ! thou blue rejoicing sky! Yea, everything that is and will be free! Bear witness for me, wheresoe'er ye be, With what deep worship I have still adored The spirit of divinest Liberty. SOOTT, TIME. Why sitt'st thou by that ruin'd hall, Thou aged carle, so stern and gray ? Or ponder how it pass'd away? |