Chapter VIII

Oft, on the mountain’s highest peak,
Round which rude peals of thunder break,--
When tempests from on high are hurl’d,--
I’ve stood, and mark’d, beneath unfurl’d,
The varied charms of nature’s face;
Where, undisturb’d, my eye could trace
Each winding brook, each rushing stream,
Each charm that wakes in fancy’s dream;
The ocean’s measureless expanse,
On whose calm breast bright shadows glance;
Unruffled, pure, and peaceful, save
Where zephyrs fan its sleeping wave.
There, breaking thro’ its endless blue,
Soft rise the isles of verdant hue,
Where heavenly habitants might rest,
And sanctify earth’s lovely breast.
And fancy oft would paint, (among
Their verdant bowers, where wild bird’s song
Enliven’d, with its melody,
The tranquil scene; which well might vie
With nature’s fairest, loveliest spot,)
The blest, and undisturbed lot,
With some congenial, tender breast,
To seek retirement, peace, and rest,
And bid to folly’s train adieu,
For verdant isle, in ocean blue.

IX

Or stretched, in undulating maze,
To tire with charms the wandering gaze,
The landscape bright before me lays:--
The valley, hill abrupt, and steep,
Sequester’d dell, remote and deep;
The rustling fields of golden corn,
Emblazon’d by the beams of morn;
The hamlet’s cluster’d form, where rest,
With health, and peace, the simply blest;
Where reigns, (by heaven auspicious lent,)
Joy’s purest spirit, calm content;
Enlivening every rustic eye,
That beams with self-taught sympathy.
Blest with each joy these scenes impart,
Which soothe, yet not corrupt the heart;
Unversed in manners of the crowd,
The falsly gay, the meanly proud,
Who scoff at peasant joys aloud;
Unversed in fashion’s mystic lore;
Untaught to crave another’s store;
They peaceful live, and calmly die,
Embosom’d in tranquillity.

X

The waving forest’s wide domain,
Beyond the lawn, my vision greets.
There, every verdure softly meets;--
The towering pine’s deep em’rald stain;
The willow’s light and cheerful green;
The beach, in yellow foilage drest;
The poplar’s dark and shining vest,
Its leaves, in every breath that quiver,
And in the cool air seem to shiver;
Each bright variety of hue
There strikes upon th’ admiring view.
Through its dark groves’ refreshing shade,
The wild breeze hollow murmurs made;
Its bosom heav’d with gentle motion,
Like the softly troubled ocean;
Beneath that forest’s sombre shade,
Oft have my vagrant footsteps stray’d,
Oft have I paus’d, its depths among,
To breathe a light and artless song;
Oft paus’d amidst its gloomy haunts,
Where nature’s wildest livery flaunts,
To heave the sigh that childhood grants,
When crowds of wishes, undefined,
Steal on the uninstructed mind.--

XI

Why did I sigh? I knew not, yet,
A semblance even of regret;
Why did I sigh? was it, because
Nature’s fair bloom would soon decay?
The fountain’s stream would know a pause,
The forest’s foilage fade away,
Each fairy vale, each verdant meadow,
Would pass, like morning’s fleeting shadow?
Ah no! that gloomy hour was fraught
With all the luxury of thought;--
A willing gloom, a painful pleasure,
Play’d o’er my heart in rapt’rous measure;
’Twas poesy’s spirit swell’d my soul,
And bade, on fancy’s golden pinions,
Airy thoughts, extatic, roll
O’er the mind’s unchain’d dominions.

XII

’Twas meditation’s hallowed ground!
And soft she shed her influence round:
O’er many a forest flower I stray’d,
That bloom’d beneath the dark oak’s shade,
And yielded sweet its wild perfume,
Shrouded in uncongenial gloom,--
And birds, from soft melodious throats,
To gentle echo sung their notes.