And vineyards in the greenest hue of spring, Now issuing forth in light. The Maiden gazed Till all grew dim upon her dizzy eye, "O what a blessed world were this!" she cried, "But that the great and honourable men "Who in the after days shall live when Time Then said the Son of Orleans, " Holy Maid! "Fain would I know, if blameless I may seek "Such knowledge, how the heavenly call was heard "First in thy waken'd soul; nor deem in me Aught idly curious, if of thy past days "I ask the detail. In the hour of age, "If haply I survive to see this realm By thee deliver'd, dear will be the thought "That I have seen the delegated Maid, "And heard from her the wonderous ways of Heaven." "A simple tale," the mission'd Maid replied, "Seest thou, Sir Chief, where yonder forest skirts "Yet nought of needful comfort did it lack, "A parent's love; for harsh my mother was, "And wrathful chastisement. soul Yet was the voice "That spake in tones of tenderness most sweet "To my young heart; how have I felt it leap "With transport, when mine Uncle Claude approach'd! "For he would place me on his knee, and tell "The wonderous tales that childhood loves to hear, "Listening with eager eyes and open lips "Devoutly in attention. Good old man! "Oh if I ever pour'd a prayer to Heaven "Was mine, when in advancing years I found "And this was happiness. "Amid these wilds "Often to summer pasture have I driven "The flock; and well I know these mountain wilds, "And every bosom'd vale, and valley stream "Is dear to memory. I have laid me down "Beside yon valley stream, that up the ascent "Scarce sends the sound of waters now, and watch'd "The beck roll glittering to the noon-tide sun, "And listen'd to its ceaseless murmuring, "Till all was hush'd and tranquil in my soul, "Fill'd with a strange and undefined delight "That pass'd across the mind like summer clouds "Over the lake at eve, their fleeting hues "The traveller cannot trace with memory's eye, "Yet he remembers well how fair they were, "How lovely. "Here in solitude and peace My soul was nurst, amid the loveliest scenes "Of unpolluted nature. Sweet it was "As the white mists of morning roll'd away "To see the mountain's wooded heights appear "Dark in the early dawn, and mark its slope "With gorse-flowers glowing, as the rising sun “On the golden ripeness pour'd a deepening light. "Pleasant at noon beside the vocal brook "To lie me down, and watch the floating clouds, "And shape to Fancy's wild similitudes "Their ever-varying forms; and oh how sweet! "To drive my flock at evening to the fold, "And hasten to our little hut, and hear "The voice of kindness bid me welcome home. |