The vale, with its deep fountains, is their choice, Around their steps; till silently they die, As a stream shrinks from summer's burning eye. And these-of whose abode, 'Midst her green valleys, earth retain'd no trace, A dim and vacant place In some sweet home-thou hadst no wreaths for these, Thou sunny land! with all thy deathless trees! The peasant at his door Might sink to die when vintage feasts were spread, Thou wert for nobler dead! He heard the bounding steps which round him fell, The slave, whose very tears Were a forbidden luxury, and whose breast He might not be thy guest! No gentle breathings from thy distant sky Calm, on its leaf-strewn bier, E'en so to pass away, With its bright smile-Elysium! what wert thou To her, who wept o'er that young slumb'rer's brow? Thou hadst no home, green land! For the fair creature from her bosom gone, With life's fresh flowers just opening in its hand, Like spring's first wakening! but that light was past- Not where tra soft winds play'd, Not where thy waters lay in glassy sleep! Fade with thy bowers, thou Land of Visions, fade! Fade, with the amaranth plain, the myrtle grove, THE FUNERAL GENIUS. AN ANCIENT STATUE. "Debout, couronné de fleurs, les bras élevés et posés sur sa tête, et le dos appuyé contre un pin, ce génie semble exprimer par son attitude le répos des morts. Les bas-reliefs des tombeaux offrent souvent des figures semblables."-VISCONTI, Description des Antiques du Musée Royal. THOU shouldst be look'd on when the starlight falls It hath too fitful and too wild a glare! And thou!-thy rest, the soft, the lovely, seems To ask light steps, that will not break its dreams. Flowers are upon thy brow; for so the dead Were crown'd of old, with pale spring flowers like these . They fear'd not death, whose calm and gracious thought They who thy wreath of pallid roses wrought, * The form of this poem was a good deal altered by Mrs. Hemans some years after its first publication, and, though done so perhaps to advantage, one verse was omitted. As originally written, the two following stanzas concluded the piece : For the most loved are they Of whom Fame speaks not with her clarion voice, Around their steps; till silently they die, As a streams shrinks from summer's burning eye. And the world knows not then, Not then, nor ever, what pure thoughts are fled! Yet these are they, who on the souls of men Come back, when night her folding veil hath spread, The long-remember'd dead! But not with thee might aught save glory dwell- They fear'd not death!-yet who shall say his touch Had they seen aught like thee?-Did some fair boy Oh! happy, if to them the one dread hour -Let him, who thus hath seen the lovely part, But thou, fair slumberer! was there less of woe, And gave thy semblance to the shadowy king, In the dark bosom of the earth they laid Is it for us a darker gloom to shed O'er its dim precincts?-do we not intrust -Why should we dwell on that which lies beneath, When living light hath touch'd the brow of death? THE TOMBS OF PLATEA. FROM A PAINTING BY WILLIAMS. AND there they sleep!-the men who stood In arms before th' exulting sun, And bathed their spears in Persian blood. And taught the earth how freedom might be won. They sleep!-th' Olympic wreaths are dead, They sleep, and seems not all around The heavens are loaded with a breathless gloom. And stars are watching on their height, And still and solemn is the light Which folds the plain, as with a glimmering shroud. And thou, pale night-queen! here thy beams Nor look they down on shining streams, Thou seest no pastoral hamlet sleep, But o'er a dim and boundless waste, But by his dust, amidst the solitude. And be it thus!-What slave shall tread When their bright Land sits weeping o'er her chains: Here, where the Persian clarion rung, And where the Spartan sword flash'd high, From year to year swell'd on by liberty! Here should no voice, no sound, be heard, Or the shrill trumpet pealing up through heaven! Rest in your silent homes, ye brave! Till rushing winds proclaim-the land is free! * A single tree appears in Mr. Williams' impressive picture. THE VIEW FROM CASTRI. FROM A PAINTING BY WILLIAMS THERE have been bright and glorious pageants here, With incense-clouds around the temple blending, Storms have gone forth, which, in their fierce career, From his bold hand have struck the banner and the spear. The shrine hath sunk!--but thou unchanged art there! Or golden cloud which floats around thee, seems The mysteries of the past, the gods of elder days! Away, vain phantasies!-doth less of power -Lift through the free blue heavens thine arrowy crest! No Delphian lyres now break thy noontide rest With their full chords:-but silent be the strain! Thou hast a mightier voice to speak th' Eternal's reign !* *This, with the preceding, and several of the following pieces first appeared in the Edinburgh Magazine. |