Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

"You see these lifeless Stumps of aspin wood,

66

Some say that they are beeches, others elms

"These were the Bower; and here a Mansion stood,

"The finest palace of a hundred realms !

"The Arbour does its own condition tell;

"You see the Stones, the Fountain, and the Stream, "But as to the great Lodge! you might as well "Hunt half a day for a forgotten dream.

"There's neither dog nor heifer, horse nor sheep,
"Will wet his lips within that Cup of Stone;
"And, oftentimes, when all are fast asleep,
"This water doth send forth a dolorous groan.

"Some say that here a murder has been done, "And blood cries out for blood: but, for my part, "I've guess'd, when I've been sitting in the sun, "That it was all for that unhappy Hart.

"What thoughts must through the creature's brain have

pass'd!

"From the stone upon the summit of the steep

"Are but three bounds-and look, Sir, at this last

46

-O Master! it has been a cruel leap.

"For thirteen hours he ran a desperate race;

"And in my simple mind we cannot tell

"What cause the Hart might have to love this place, "And come and make his death-bed near the Well,

[ocr errors]

Here on the grass perhaps asleep he sank, "Lull'd by this Fountain in the summer-tide; "This water was perhaps the first he drank "When he had wander'd from his mother's side.

"In April here beneath the scented thorn
"He heard the birds their morning carols sing;
"And he, perhaps, for aught we know, was born
"Not half a furlong from that self-same spring.

44 "But now here's neither grass nor pleasant shade, "The sun on drearier Hollow never shone:

"So will it be, as I have often said,

"Till Trees, and Stones, and Fountain all are gone."

"Grey-headed Shepherd, thou hast spoken well; "Small difference lies between thy creed and mine : "This Beast not unobserv'd by Nature fell; "His death was mourn'd by sympathy divine.

groves,

"The Being, that is in the clouds and air,
"That is in the green leaves among the
"Maintains a deep and reverential care
"For them the quiet creatures whom he loves.

"The Pleasure-house is dust:-behind, before,
"This is no common waste, no common gloom;
"But Nature, in due course of time, once more

Shall here put on her beauty and her bloom..

*She leaves these objects to a slow decay, "That what we are, and have been, may be known; "But, at the coming of the milder day,

"These monuments shall all be overgrown.

"One lesson, Shepherd, let us two divide,

166

Taught both by what she shews, and what conceals, "Never to blend our pleasure or our pride

"With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.

There was a Boy, ye knew him well, ye Cliffs
And Islands of Winander! many a time,
At evening, when the stars had just begun
To move along the edges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone,
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake;
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Press'd closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,

Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls

That they might answer him.—And they would shout

Across the wat❜ry vale and shout again

Responsive to his call, with quivering peals,

And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud

Redoubled and redoubled; a wild scene

« AnteriorContinuar »