1
One eve as all the radiant west
Far-beaming with the liquid gold
Of sunset, gilt the mountains crest
Girdling the sky with outlines bold
2
& flung a broad & mellow light
Around the rocks that rose on high
As pillars for the throne of night
Then shading soft the eastern sky
3
I stood amid a desert vast
Nor golden feild nor mead was there
No tree or grove their shadow cast
Or shook their tresses on the air
4
But one wide solemn wilderness
Whose aspect filled the mind with fear
Showed Nature in her sternest dress
With rugged brow & Face severe.
5
Winds o'er that land have come & gone
But voiceless & unblent with sound
Of living song or human tone
They ceaseless sigh & murmur round
6
Yet oft the lonely traveller hears
A sugh as of some distant stream
And lo! far off in gloom appears
A mighty waters azure gleam
7
No white sail glideth o'er its breast
No snowy seamew cuts the waves
But all unburdened & at rest
The passing surge that lone shore laves
8
Life in these wilds has ceased to be
Not e'en the eagles royal wing
Waves in the sky. No red-deer free
Make[s] with his cry this desert ring
9
My heart quaked at the silence dead
The utter silence reigning there
An incubus, an awful dread
With leaden pow'r oppressed the air
10
At length a gentle breeze up-sprang
With low wild moaning on it swept
It seem[ed] AEolian music rang
As softly on the ear they crept
11
And wakened by that harp-like blast
Thoughts rose within my spirits cell
Of those who in long ages past
Attuned the muses hallowed shell
12
Of him, the Bard that swept the lyre
Whose sounding strings were stained with gore
Whose aged eyes shot heavenly fire
Beaming beneath his forehead hoar
13
All honour, to that mighty one
Let earth with his great praises ring
Child of the self illumined sun
How didst thou strike the trembling string
14
While music like a mountain flood
Rolled forth as swept thy hand along
Wars, horrid wars & streaming blood
Ensanguined deep thy martial song
15
Greece thy fair skies have flung their light
On mightiest of this sunlit world
Genius enthroned in glory bright
O'er thee her banner hath unfurled
16
Now desolate by time decayed
Thy solemn temples mouldring lye
While black groves throw Cimerian shade
Beneath a still transparent sky
17
Degenerate are thy sons & slaves
Athens & Sparta are no more
Unswept by swans Eurotas laves
As yet its laurel shaded shore
18
Parnassus now uplifts her head
Forsaken of the holy nine
They from her heights for aye have fled
And now in fair Britania shine
19
If rising from the silent tomb
Thy tragic bards could see thee now
What solemn clouds of greif & gloom
Would shade each spirits lofty brow
20
How would the haunted air resound
With moanings of each shadowy lyre
How would earth tremble at the sound
And quake before the wailing dire
21
He that with soft but stately tread
Passed solemn o'er the Grecian stage
What tears of Pity would he shed
At sight of thy base vasallage
22
The tender & the terrible
Commingling each their notes of woe
One strain with rage divine would swell
The other sadly sorrowing flow
23
Though fair Ausonia too hath sunk
And fallen from her high estate
Though deeply she the cup hath drunk
Of vengeance from the hand of Fate
24
Yet mid her mighty ruins oft
Some beauteous flow'r is seen to bloom
Peircing with radiance mildly soft
Her crumbling cities cloudy gloom
25
Such he that sang Jerusalem
In strains as sweet as ever flow'd
From harp of Mantuas glorious swain
Though heavens own fire within him glow'd
26
But no faint star on thee hath shone
O Greece since set those orbs of light
Each in itself a quenchless sun
Refulgently, divinely bright!
27
And said I set? No still they beam
With dazeling lustre far on high
Aye sending forth a golden gleam
O'er azure of the vaulted sky
28
And sons of Albion in that rank
Shine crowned with honours they have won
For deeply of the fount they drank
The sacred fount of Helicon
29
Hail army of immortals hail!
O Might I neath your banners march!
Though faint my lustre faint & pale
Scarce seen amid the glorious arch
30
Yet joy deep joy would fill my heart
Nature unveil thy awful face
To me a poets pow'r impart
Thoug[h] humble be my destined place
'Twas thus arose my ardent prayer
Amid the desert solitude
It reached the " Mighty Mothers " ear
She saw me where I lowly stood
And first a voice went sweeping by
On the wild wind that murmured round
From the deep bosom of the sky
Seemed to proceed that solemn sound
Then shadowy vapours gathered fast
Which shut from veiw the pale moon-light
Swelled louder the triumphant blast
High pealing with tumultuous might
The river's voice from distance far
Proclaimed some prodigy was nigh
Clouds veil'd from sight each glimmering star
And waned their splendour from the sky
I trembled as a brighter ray
Unknown from whence, illumed the air
Transforming twilight into day
As luna's beam of silver fair
Now dawned upon my awe-struck eyes
A shape more beauteous than the morn
When radiant with a thousand dyes
The pearls of night her brow adorn
A womans form the vision wore
Her lofty forehead touched the sky
Her crown, a rugged mountain hoar
Where plume-like trees waved solemnly
Down fell her mantle white as snow
An azure river girt her round
That liquid belt did circling flow
With faint but never ceasing sound
The heavenly & the terrene globe
In lines of light were pictured fair
On foldings of her spotless robe
Wide floating on the ambient air
Her dusky tresses dark as night
With crescent moon & stars were bound
As through black clouds shone out their light
In rays of glory beaming round
A gracious smile illumed her face
As throned she sate on clouds of light
In attitude of heavenly grace
Beneath an arch like rainbow bright
& Sweet as the echos of the hill
At length her voice the silence broke
In accents calm serene & still
Thus Nature condescending spoke
" Thy prayre hath reached me where I dwell
" In river or in sounding cave
" By woodland bower by hidden dell
" Or under Oceans foamy wave
" Thou Would'st be one of that bright band
" The favoured children of the sky
" The chosen from each shore & land
" Of deathless fame & memory
" Mortal I grant that high request
" (But dim thy beam & faint thy ray)
" Partake the glory of the blest
" Son of Apollo King of day
" Laurel thy temples may not bind
" & In humbler sphere thy fate is set
" That for the more exalted mind
" But take yon lowly violet
" And press it mortal to thy heart
" And wreath the floweret round thy brow
" O! never from that token part
" Till death thy energies shall bow
Thus spoke the glorious deity
Then passed in dazzling light away
The mighty sovereign of the sky
Shone never with so bright a ray
I plucked the violet where it grew
Beside a stone, green moss amid
Its lovely leaflets bright with dew
Like modest worth half seen half hid
Years have rolled o'er me since that night
Still doth the flower its perfume shed
Still shall it free from withering blight
Till I lie with the silent dead.
One eve as all the radiant west
Far-beaming with the liquid gold
Of sunset, gilt the mountains crest
Girdling the sky with outlines bold
2
& flung a broad & mellow light
Around the rocks that rose on high
As pillars for the throne of night
Then shading soft the eastern sky
3
I stood amid a desert vast
Nor golden feild nor mead was there
No tree or grove their shadow cast
Or shook their tresses on the air
4
But one wide solemn wilderness
Whose aspect filled the mind with fear
Showed Nature in her sternest dress
With rugged brow & Face severe.
5
Winds o'er that land have come & gone
But voiceless & unblent with sound
Of living song or human tone
They ceaseless sigh & murmur round
6
Yet oft the lonely traveller hears
A sugh as of some distant stream
And lo! far off in gloom appears
A mighty waters azure gleam
7
No white sail glideth o'er its breast
No snowy seamew cuts the waves
But all unburdened & at rest
The passing surge that lone shore laves
8
Life in these wilds has ceased to be
Not e'en the eagles royal wing
Waves in the sky. No red-deer free
Make[s] with his cry this desert ring
9
My heart quaked at the silence dead
The utter silence reigning there
An incubus, an awful dread
With leaden pow'r oppressed the air
10
At length a gentle breeze up-sprang
With low wild moaning on it swept
It seem[ed] AEolian music rang
As softly on the ear they crept
11
And wakened by that harp-like blast
Thoughts rose within my spirits cell
Of those who in long ages past
Attuned the muses hallowed shell
12
Of him, the Bard that swept the lyre
Whose sounding strings were stained with gore
Whose aged eyes shot heavenly fire
Beaming beneath his forehead hoar
13
All honour, to that mighty one
Let earth with his great praises ring
Child of the self illumined sun
How didst thou strike the trembling string
14
While music like a mountain flood
Rolled forth as swept thy hand along
Wars, horrid wars & streaming blood
Ensanguined deep thy martial song
15
Greece thy fair skies have flung their light
On mightiest of this sunlit world
Genius enthroned in glory bright
O'er thee her banner hath unfurled
16
Now desolate by time decayed
Thy solemn temples mouldring lye
While black groves throw Cimerian shade
Beneath a still transparent sky
17
Degenerate are thy sons & slaves
Athens & Sparta are no more
Unswept by swans Eurotas laves
As yet its laurel shaded shore
18
Parnassus now uplifts her head
Forsaken of the holy nine
They from her heights for aye have fled
And now in fair Britania shine
19
If rising from the silent tomb
Thy tragic bards could see thee now
What solemn clouds of greif & gloom
Would shade each spirits lofty brow
20
How would the haunted air resound
With moanings of each shadowy lyre
How would earth tremble at the sound
And quake before the wailing dire
21
He that with soft but stately tread
Passed solemn o'er the Grecian stage
What tears of Pity would he shed
At sight of thy base vasallage
22
The tender & the terrible
Commingling each their notes of woe
One strain with rage divine would swell
The other sadly sorrowing flow
23
Though fair Ausonia too hath sunk
And fallen from her high estate
Though deeply she the cup hath drunk
Of vengeance from the hand of Fate
24
Yet mid her mighty ruins oft
Some beauteous flow'r is seen to bloom
Peircing with radiance mildly soft
Her crumbling cities cloudy gloom
25
Such he that sang Jerusalem
In strains as sweet as ever flow'd
From harp of Mantuas glorious swain
Though heavens own fire within him glow'd
26
But no faint star on thee hath shone
O Greece since set those orbs of light
Each in itself a quenchless sun
Refulgently, divinely bright!
27
And said I set? No still they beam
With dazeling lustre far on high
Aye sending forth a golden gleam
O'er azure of the vaulted sky
28
And sons of Albion in that rank
Shine crowned with honours they have won
For deeply of the fount they drank
The sacred fount of Helicon
29
Hail army of immortals hail!
O Might I neath your banners march!
Though faint my lustre faint & pale
Scarce seen amid the glorious arch
30
Yet joy deep joy would fill my heart
Nature unveil thy awful face
To me a poets pow'r impart
Thoug[h] humble be my destined place
'Twas thus arose my ardent prayer
Amid the desert solitude
It reached the " Mighty Mothers " ear
She saw me where I lowly stood
And first a voice went sweeping by
On the wild wind that murmured round
From the deep bosom of the sky
Seemed to proceed that solemn sound
Then shadowy vapours gathered fast
Which shut from veiw the pale moon-light
Swelled louder the triumphant blast
High pealing with tumultuous might
The river's voice from distance far
Proclaimed some prodigy was nigh
Clouds veil'd from sight each glimmering star
And waned their splendour from the sky
I trembled as a brighter ray
Unknown from whence, illumed the air
Transforming twilight into day
As luna's beam of silver fair
Now dawned upon my awe-struck eyes
A shape more beauteous than the morn
When radiant with a thousand dyes
The pearls of night her brow adorn
A womans form the vision wore
Her lofty forehead touched the sky
Her crown, a rugged mountain hoar
Where plume-like trees waved solemnly
Down fell her mantle white as snow
An azure river girt her round
That liquid belt did circling flow
With faint but never ceasing sound
The heavenly & the terrene globe
In lines of light were pictured fair
On foldings of her spotless robe
Wide floating on the ambient air
Her dusky tresses dark as night
With crescent moon & stars were bound
As through black clouds shone out their light
In rays of glory beaming round
A gracious smile illumed her face
As throned she sate on clouds of light
In attitude of heavenly grace
Beneath an arch like rainbow bright
& Sweet as the echos of the hill
At length her voice the silence broke
In accents calm serene & still
Thus Nature condescending spoke
" Thy prayre hath reached me where I dwell
" In river or in sounding cave
" By woodland bower by hidden dell
" Or under Oceans foamy wave
" Thou Would'st be one of that bright band
" The favoured children of the sky
" The chosen from each shore & land
" Of deathless fame & memory
" Mortal I grant that high request
" (But dim thy beam & faint thy ray)
" Partake the glory of the blest
" Son of Apollo King of day
" Laurel thy temples may not bind
" & In humbler sphere thy fate is set
" That for the more exalted mind
" But take yon lowly violet
" And press it mortal to thy heart
" And wreath the floweret round thy brow
" O! never from that token part
" Till death thy energies shall bow
Thus spoke the glorious deity
Then passed in dazzling light away
The mighty sovereign of the sky
Shone never with so bright a ray
I plucked the violet where it grew
Beside a stone, green moss amid
Its lovely leaflets bright with dew
Like modest worth half seen half hid
Years have rolled o'er me since that night
Still doth the flower its perfume shed
Still shall it free from withering blight
Till I lie with the silent dead.