Adorning its bald and majestical peak, Like the lock on the forehead of Time. A land-mark they rise to the stranger forlorn, 'Tis rapture to spy the young beauties of Morn The homeward-bound husbandman joys to behold, On the line of the grey evening scene, Their branches yet gleaming with purple and gold, And the sunset expiring between. The maidens that gather the fruits of the moor,* Through the blue dazzling distance of noon-light explore The trees that remind them of home: The children that range in the valley suspend Their sports and in ecstasy gaze, * Bilberries, cluster-berries, and crane-berries. When they see the broad moon from the summit ascend, And their school-house and grove in a blaze. O! sweet to my soul is that beautiful grove, It gladdens my spirit, it sooths from afar With tranquil and tender delight, It shines through my heart, like a hope-beaming star Alone in the desert of night. It tells me of moments of innocent bliss, For ever and ever gone o'er Like the light of a smile, like the balm of a kiss, Yet wherefore of pleasures departed complain, That leave such endearment behind? Though the sun of their sweetness be sunk in the main, Their twilight still rests on the mind. Then peace to his ashes who planted those trees! Supreme o'er the landscape they rise, With simple and lovely magnificence please All bosoms, and ravish all eyes : Nor marble, nor brass could emblazon his fame, Ah! thus, when I sleep in the desolate tomb, On the mountain of high immortality bloom, Then ages unborn shall their verdure admire, And nations sit under their shade, While my spirit, in secret, shall move o'er my lyre, Aloft in their branches display'd. Hence, dream of vain glory!-the light drop of dew, That glows in the violet's eye, In the splendour of morn to a fugitive view, May rival a star of the sky; But the violet is pluck'd, and the dew-drop is flown, The star unextinguish'd shall shine; Then mine be the laurels of virtue alone, And the glories of Paradise mine. THE MOLE-HILL. TELL me, thou dust beneath my feet, Thou dust that once hadst breath! Tell me how many mortals meet In this small hill of death? The Mole, that scoops with curious toil Her subterranean bed, Thinks not she ploughs a human soil, And mines among the dead. But, O! where'er she turns the ground My kindred earth I see; Once every atom of this mound Lived, breathed, and felt like me. |