When joy no longer soothes or cheers, A moment's sparkle o'er our tears, Oh who would bear life's stormy doom, Come brightly wafting through the gloom, Then sorrow, touch'd by thee, grows bright A HEBREW MELODY. SOUND the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumph'd—his people are free. Sing, for the pride of the tyrant is broken, His chariots and horsemen, all splendid and brave, How vain was their boasting!The Lord hath but spoken, And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea; Jehovah has triumph'd,-his people are free! Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord, His word was our arrow, his breath was our sword! Who shall return to tell Egypt the story Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? For the Lord hath look'd out from his pillar of glory, And all her brave thousands are dash'd in the tide. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumph'd—his people are free! COLERIDGE. HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI. HAST thou a charm to stay the Morning-Star Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful Form! O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, Yea, with my Life and Life's own secret Joy : Into the mighty Vision passing-there, As in her natural form, swell'd vast to Heaven! Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou owest! not alone these swelling tears, Mute thanks and secret ecstacy! Awake, Voice of sweet song! Awake, my Heart, awake! Green Vales and icy Cliffs, all join my Hymn. Thou first and chief, sole Sovran of the Vale! O struggling with the Darkness all the night, And visited all night by troops of stars, Or when they climb the sky or when they sink: Companion of the Morning-Star at Dawn, Thyself Earth's ROSY STAR, and of the dawn Co-herald! wake, O wake, and utter praise! Who sank thy sunless pillars deep in earth? Who fill'd thy countenance with rosy light! Who made thee parent of perpetual streams? And you, ye five wild torrents fiercely glad! Who call'd you forth from night and utter death, From dark and icy caverns call'd you forth, Down those precipitous, black, jagged rocks For ever shattered and the same for ever? Who gave you your invulnerable life, Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, And who commanded (and the silence came), Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Adown enormous ravines slope amain— Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty Voice, And stopp'd at once amid their maddest plunge! Motionless torrents! silent cataracts! Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven Beneath the keen full moon? Who bade the sun Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet?- Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! And they too have a voice, yon piles of snow, And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God! Ye livery flowers that skirt th' eternal frost! Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! Ye eagles, play-mates of the mountain-storm! Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds ! Ye signs and wonders of the element ! Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise! Once more, hoar mount! with thy sky-pointing Oft from whose feet the Avalanche, unheard, Rise like a cloud of incense, from the earth! THE VIRGIN'S CRADLE-HYMN. SLEEP, sweet babe! my cares beguiling: Sleep, my darling, tenderly ! THE CHAPEL OF WILLIAM TELL. MARK this holy chapel well! The Birth-place, this, of WILLIAM TELL, Here, where stands God's altar dread, Stood his parents' marriage-bed. Here first, an infant to her breast, Him his loving mother prest; And kiss'd the babe, and bless'd the day, "Vouchsafe him health, O God! and give The child thy servant still to live !" But God hath destined to do more Through him, than through an armed power. |