All wept, as I think both ye now would THE QUESTION. I DREAMED that, as I wandered by the way, Bare winter suddenly was changed to spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream. There grew pied wind-flowers and violets; Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth; The constellated flower that never sets; Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets Its mother's face with heaven-collected tears, When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears. And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, May, And cherry blossoms, and white cups, whose wine Was the bright dew yet drained not by the day; And wild roses, and ivy serpentine, With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold Fairer than any wakened eyes behold. And nearer to the river's trembling edge There grew broad flag-flowers, purple prankt with white; And starry river buds among the sedge; And floating water-lilies, broad and bright, Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge With moonlight beams of their own watery light; And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green Methought that of these visionary flowers I made a nosegay, bound in such a way That the same hues, which in their natural bowers Were mingled or opposed, the like array Kept these imprisoned children of the Hours Within my hand,—and then, elate and gay, I hastened to the spot whence I had come, That I might there present it !-O, to whom? THE TWO SPIRITS. AN ALLEGORY. FIRST SPIRIT. THOυ, who plumed with strong desire Bright are the regions of the air, And among the winds and beams It were delight to wander there— Night is coming! SECOND SPIRIT. The deathless stars are bright above: And the moon will sinile with gentle light FIRST SPIRIT. But if the whirlwinds of darkness waken The red swift clouds of the hurricane Yon declining sun have overtaken; The clash of the hail sweeps over the plain➡ Night is coming! SECOND SPIRIT. I see the light, and I hear the sound. I'll sail on the flood of the tempest dark, With the calm within and the light around Which makes night day : And thou, when the gloom is deep and stark, Look from thy dull earth, slumber-bound; My moonlight flight thou then mayst mark On high, far away. Some say there is a precipice Where one vast pine is frozen to ruin And that the languid storm, pursuing Some say when nights are dry and clear, And a silver shape like his early love doth pass LETTER TO MARIA GISBORNE. LEGHORN, July 1, 1820. THE spider spreads her webs, whether she be In poet's tower, cellar, or barn, or tree; But a soft cell, where, when that fades away, Which in those hearts which must remember me Whoever should behold me now, I wist, To breathe a soul into the iron heart For round the walls are hung dread engines, such |