Classic Poem

O Cambrian Tempe, oft with transport hail'd
I leave thee now , as I did ever leave
Thee, and thy peerless Mistresses; — with heart,
Where lively gratitude, and fond regret
For mastery strive, and still the mastery gain
Alternate, Oft renew'd must be the strife
When far from this lov'd Region, and from all
That now its ancient witchery revives;
Revives, with spells more potent erst than knew
Your white-rob'd Druids on their Deva's bank
Aweful to frame; when the loud, mystic song,
And louder clang of their unnumber'd harps
Drown'd e'en the River's thunder, where she throws
All, all her waters in one rocky chasm,
Narrow, but fathomless; and goads them on,
Roaring and foaming; while Llangollen's steeps
Rebellow to the noise. — Ye, who now frame
Your talismans resistless, O! receive,
Ye mild Enchantresses, my warm adieu!
Time, that for me has pass'd, full many a year,
On broad and withering pinion, may have quench'd
By the rude wafture of his dusky wing,
Fancy's clear fires; — Enthusiasm may waste
In her own fruitless energies, and pine,
Vainly may pine, for the exhausted powers
Of bankrupt language; bankrupt of the skill
To please, with varied praise, the taste, made coy
By riot of encomium; but yet,
The benediction of increasing love,
Bless'd Pair, receive, with no ungracious ear!
When first your Eden in this peerless Vale
Stole on these eyes, its solemn graces first
Seiz'd on my wondering senses, to their wish
The Muse of landscape came, and to my hand
Her pallet, glowing in ideal hues,
With smiles extended. Straight my trembling pen
Eager I dipt, and not unfaithful rose
Some features of the scene; Yet, even then,
In Friendship's primal hours, my soul perceiv'd
Feelings, that more defied expression's force
To speak them truly, than to paint the charms
Of that transcendant spot; its mountains vast,
Here pale and barren, and there dark with woods;
Yon mural rocks, whose surface aye defies
All change of seasons; tho' they deign to yield,
At intervals, their grey and wannish hue,
Purpling to orient Suns, and catching oft
The occidental amber; sylvan glades,
Bright fields, and shadowy lawn, whose concave soft
No beam of noon can pierce; — the shelter'd seat,
By mossy pillars propt, on the last verge
Of a lone, clamoring brook, that down its slope
And craggy bed swift struggles; for the stones,
Pointed and huge, ceaseless impede and vex
Its passage to the base of that rude bank,
Which rises opposite this shelter'd seat,
And instant rises. Dark the bank, and rude,
But not inflexible. Its craggy sides
No longer spurn, as they had often spurn'd
The mountain shrubs, and trees. They feel, at length,
Their twisted roots into the fissures strike,
Meandring far. So do they fearless bend
Their green heads o'er the chaf'd and brawling stream,
Round the huge stones swift eddying. Fearless now,
Conscious of deepen'd root, e'en when loud rains,
Heavy and vast, have, 'mid the tempest's roar,
O'erwhelming fallen; and when the madden'd brook
No longer meets from tranquil, human eye
The gaze contemplative. Appall'd we shrink
From the tumultuous flood, that tumbles down
Fearfully deepen'd; and oft hurling up
The yeasty billow, while the tide beneath
Thunders and groans. Remorseless is its rage.
But quickly spent; while under calmer skies,
Or mid the balmy drop of quiet rains,
Guiltless it rushes, and innoxious raves.
More than innoxious: — pass a little way
Up its green bank, terrific now no more,
And we shall view, well pleas'd the useful stream
Leap o'er a clattering mill-wheel, high above
In the brook's hilly channel; 'mid whose brakes,
Thick and entangled, lo, the white foam gleams!
See, higher yet, on the still rising steep,
Another hub-bub tenement obtains
Power, from this captious, and oft violent stream,
To yield the first, best nutriment to man.
Haste to the Scene, benignant Powers of life,
Mild Lachesis, and gay Hygeia, haste
From day to day, propitious! — On that bank,
Mossy, and canopied with gadding boughs,
Spin the firm thread, and brim the sparkling cup
With juice salubrious; breathing soft, the while,
Dear Eleanora's, and her Zara's name!