Within that ancient but neglected place,
When life was sweet, there dwelt another race;
But all has long since passed the silent shore
Of the dark ocean of the world no more;
No trace is left, no vestige can be found,
Nor of themselves, nor household gods around.
'Tis but in Fancy's shadowy dream appears
The watch-dog, terror of my younger years;
The hoary hind, that travelled daily all
These mansions round, at duty's various call;
The well-remembered cattle, that would wait,
And low, impatient for the opening gate;
The roofless houses, where I climbed in quest
Of the small treasures of the songster's nest;
The garden, sleeping in the morning dew,
With its rich fruits, and flowers of every
And charms, which vainly words attempt to trace.
That hung in storm and sunshine round the place
All that once awed or made my young heart gay,
Change has removed, and Time has swept away.
WRITTEN AT THE GRAVE OF ROBIN HOOD.
How seemly sleeps the forest king
Beneath the greenwood's spreading bough, Where round the merry minstrels sing, And fresh and free the breezes blow; And dark yews shade, with sombre grace, The noble hunter's resting-place! Long sacred may thine ashes be, England's first archer, bold, and free; Thy times were dark, but yet the fire, Imparted by our common Sire, Burned brightly in thy manly breast, Despite the tyrant's stern behest; The churchman's wile, the despot's chain, For thee were forged alike in vain; Blythe dancing 'neath the greenwood tree, Thy partner-glorious liberty!
When sceptred wretches are no more,
When priestcraft's iron age is o'er,
When conquerors have found their right
Legitimate, the land of night;
When marts where life's resistless wave
Now swells, are voiceless as the grave,
And forests rise where cities stood,
In song shall live "bold Robin Hood."
KIRKLEES, YORKSHIRE, Sept. 1843.
ON BEING ASKED WHAT FIGURE WAS MOST DESCRIPTIVE OF A POET.
WHEN long, long shadows of the midnight fall
From the rent towers of yonder ruined wall,
And the bright sentinels of heaven are seen,
Each in his post, around their peerless queen;
The winds are pillowed on the mountain's breast,
And woods and waters are in waveless rest;
Hast thou not seen the meteor on its way,
Diffusing round a secondary day?
But scarce upon the eye its beams had shone,
When the fair phantom was for ever gone.
THE wind howls eerie in yon darksome wood,
The rain descends in torrents on the wold,
And, through the vast unbounded solitude,
Far,
far away the thunderbolt is rolled!
Both in one cell of Death's obdurate hold
Moulder the forms from whom I drew
my birthCould we the grave's dark covering unfold,
How changed are they since round the blazing hearth, In industry engaged, or in the hour of mirth!
And 'tis but as a dream that they have been,
Remembrance wonders if the tale be true;
They were, and passed away like sunbeams sheen,
Pursued by evening o'er the mountains blue :
Around me spring a race that soon shall view,
Through the dim_medium of reflected Time,
My fleet existence; neath the vernal dew,
The summer's sunshine, and the storm sublime,
Shall soon, forgotten, sleep the wayward son of rhyme.
WHEN Spring to earth has paid her grateful vow,
And hung her chaplet on the mountain's brow,
'Tis sweet to mark the opening bud, the stream
Dissolved, run glittering in the noontide beam,
To list the wintry silence of the grove,
Broke by the notes of melody and love.
'Tis sweet in drowsy summer morn to rest
Far from the world, on some wild mountain's breast,
On whose primeval turf, the flowery band,
Untrained, untrodden, in their beauty stand;
The daisy in its gems celestial set,
Forget-me-not, and scented violet,
The blooming furze, the birch, and yellow broom,
On either side diffuse a rich perfume;
Like honours upon age, the mountain rose,
And balmy woodbine in their wreaths enclose-
The moss-grown branches of the patriarch thorn—
All twinkling beauteous with the tears of morn,
And clumps of fern, and clustering foxglove wave
Their locks luxuriant o'er the warrior's grave.
There, stretched at ease, the subject plain survey, Its rural charms and city far away;
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