Ere yet our course was graced with social trees It lacked not old remains of hawthorn bowers, Where small birds warbled to their paramours; And, earlier still, was heard the hum of bees;...
"Change me, some God, into that breathing rose!" The love-sick Stripling fancifully sighs, The envied flower beholding, as it lies On Laura's breast, in exquisite repose;...
What aspect bore the Man who roved or fled, First of his tribe, to this dark dell who first In this pellucid Current slaked his thirst? What hopes came with him? what designs were spread...
Sole listener, Duddon! to the breeze that played With thy clear voice, I caught the fitful sound Wafted o'er sullen moss and craggy mound, Unfruitful solitudes, that seemed to upbraid...
On, loitering Muse, the swift Stream chides us on! Albeit his deep-worn channel doth immure Objects immense portrayed in miniature, Wild shapes for many a strange comparison!...
Hail to the fields, with Dwellings sprinkled o'er, And one small hamlet, under a green hill Clustering, with barn and byre, and spouting mill! A glance suffices, should we wish for more,...
No fiction was it of the antique age: A sky-blue stone, within this sunless cleft, Is of the very footmarks unbereft Which tiny Elves impressed; on that smooth stage Dancing with all their brilliant equipage...
O Mountain Stream! the Shepherd and his Cot Are privileged Inmates of deep solitude; Nor would the nicest Anchorite exclude A field or two of brighter green, or plot...
The struggling Rill insensibly is grown Into a Brook of loud and stately march, Crossed ever and anon by plank or arch; And, for like use, lo! what might seem a zone...
My frame hath often trembled with delight When hope presented some far-distant good, That seemed from heaven descending, like the flood Of yon pure waters, from their aery height...
Not so that Pair whose youthful spirits dance With prompt emotion, urging them to pass; A sweet confusion checks the Shepherd-lass; Blushing she eyes the dizzy flood askance;...
From this deep chasm, where quivering sunbeams play Upon its loftiest crags, mine eyes behold A gloomy Niche, capacious, blank, and cold; A concave free from shrubs and mosses grey;...
Such fruitless questions may not long beguile Or plague the fancy 'mid the sculptured shows Conspicuous yet where Oroonoko flows; 'There' would the Indian answer with a smile...
A dark plume fetch me from yon blasted yew, Perched on whose top the Danish Raven croaks; Aloft, the imperial Bird of Rome invokes Departed ages, shedding where he flew...
Sacred Religion! "mother of form and fear," Dread arbitress of mutable respect, New rites ordaining when the old are wrecked, Or cease to please the fickle worshiper;...
Sad thoughts, avaunt! partake we their blithe cheer Who gathered in betimes the unshorn flock To wash the fleece, where haply bands of rock, Checking the stream, make a pool smooth and clear...
A love-lorn Maid, at some far-distant time, Came to this hidden pool, whose depths surpass In crystal clearness Dian's looking-glass; And, gazing, saw that Rose, which from the prime...
Mid-noon is past; upon the sultry mead No zephyr breathes, no cloud its shadow throws: If we advance unstrengthened by repose, Farewell the solace of the vagrant reed!...
Whence that low voice? A whisper from the heart, That told of days long past, when here I roved With friends and kindred tenderly beloved; Some who had early mandates to depart,...
No record tells of lance opposed to lance, Horse charging horse, 'mid these retired domains; Tells that their turf drank purple from the veins Of heroes, fallen, or struggling to advance,...