To G. A. W.. TO MY BROTHERS.

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IV.

How many bards gild the lapses of time!

A few of them have ever been the food

Of my delighted fancy, —I could brood

Over their beauties, earthly, or sublime:

And often, when I sit me down to rhyme,

These will in throngs before my mind intrude:

But no confusion, no disturbance rude

Do they occasion; 'tis a pleasing chime.

So the unnumber'd sounds that evening store;

The songs of birds—the whisp'ring of the leaves—

The voice of waters—the great bell that heaves

With solemn sound, —and thousand others more,

That distance of recognizance bereaves,

Make pleasing music, and not wild uproar.

To a Friend who sent me some Roses.

As late I rambled in the happy fields,

What time the sky-lark shakes the tremulous dew

From his lush clover covert; —when anew

Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields:

I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,

A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw

Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew

As is the wand that queen Titania wields.

And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,

I thought the garden-rose it far excell'd:

But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me

My sense with their deliciousness was spell'd:

Soft voices had they, that with tender plea

Whisper'd of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell'd.

VI.

To G. A. W.

Nymph of the downward smile, and sidelong glance,

In what diviner moments of the day

Art thou most lovely? When gone far astray

Into the labyrinths of sweet utterance?

Or when serenely wand'ring in a trance

Of sober thought? Or when starting away,

With careless robe, to meet the morning ray,

Thou spar'st the flowers in thy mazy dance?

Haply 'tis when thy ruby lips part sweetly,

And so remain, because thou listenest:

But thou to please wert nurtured so completely

That I can never tell what mood is best.

I shall as soon pronounce which grace more neatly

Trips it before Apollo than the rest.

VII.

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,

Let it not be among the jumbled heap

Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep, —

Nature's observatory—whence the dell,

Its flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,

May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep

'Mongst boughs pavillion'd, where the deer's swift leap

Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.

But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee,

Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,

Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,

Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be

Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,

When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

VIII.

TO MY BROTHERS.

Small, busy flames play through the fresh laid coals,

And their faint cracklings o'er our silence creep

Like whispers of the household gods that keep

A gentle empire o'er fraternal souls.

And while, for rhymes, I search around the poles,

Your eyes are fix'd, as in poetic sleep,

Upon the lore so voluble and deep,

That aye at fall of night our care condoles.

This is your birth-day Tom, and I rejoice

That thus it passes smoothly, quietly.

Many such eves of gently whisp'ring noise

May we together pass, and calmly try

What are this world's true joys, —ere the great voice,

From its fair face, shall bid our spirits fly.

November 18, 1816.

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