r

ht. Wi
Serly I wor

track of is
are like.

its, which

gled wit

or be expe tears:

cull'd

of the F nuthe

1837.

YOU ASK ME, WHY, THO' ILL AT EASE

You ask me, why, tho' ill at ease,
Within this region I subsist,
Whose spirits falter in the mist,
And languish for the purple seas.
It is the land that freemen till,

That sober-suited Freedom chose,
The land, where girt with friends or
foes

A man may speak the thing he will;

A land of settled government,

A land of just and old renown, Where Freedom slowly broadens down From precedent to precedent;

Where faction seldom gathers head,
But, by degrees to fullness wrought,
The strength of some diffusive thought
Hath time and space to work and spread.

Should banded unions persecute

Opinions, and induce a time

When single thought is civil crime, And individual freedom mute,

Tho' power should make from land to land

The name of Britain trebly greatTho' every channel of the State Should fill and choke with golden sand

Yet waft me from the harbor-mouth,
Wild wind! I seek a warmer sky,
And I will see before I die
The palms and temples of the South.
1833. 1842.

OF OLD SAT FREEDOM ON THE HEIGHTS

OF old sat Freedom on the heights, The thunders breaking at her feet; Above her shook the starry lights; She heard the torrents meet.

There in her place she did rejoice, Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind, But fragments of her mighty voice Came rolling on the wind.

Then stepped she down thro' town and field

To mingle with the human race, And part by part to men reveal'd The fulness of her face

Grave mother of majestic works,
From her isle-altar gazing down,
Who, Godlike, grasps the triple forks,
And, king-like, wears the crown.

Her open eyes desire the truth.

The wisdom of a thousand years Is in them. May perpetual youth Keep dry their light from tears;

That her fair form may stand and shine,

Make bright our days and light our dreams,

Turning to scorn with lips divine

The falsehood of extremes!

1833. 1842.

We all are changed by still degrees,
All but the basis of the soul.

let the change which comes be free
To ingroove itself with that which
flies.

And work, a joint of state, that plies
Its office, moved with sympathy.

saving hard to shape in act;
For all the past of Time reveals
A bridal dawn of thunder-peals,
Wherever Thought hath wedded Fact.

Fret now we hear with inward strife
A motion toiling in the gloom-
The Spirit of the years to come
Fearning to mix himself with Life.

show-develop'd strength awaits
Completion in a painful school;
Phantoms of other forms of rule,
New Majesties of mighty States-

The warders of the growing hour,

Fat vague in vapor, hard to mark;
And round them sea and air are dark
With great contrivances of Power.

many changes, aptly join'd,

Is bodied forth the second whole.
Regard gradation, lest the soul
Discord race the rising wind;

4 wind to puff your idol-fires,
And heap their ashes on the head;
To shame the boast so often made,
That we are wiser than our sires.

3. vet, if Nature's evil star

Drive men in manhood, as in youth,
To follow flying steps of Truth
Across the brazen bridge of war-

: If New and Old, disastrous feud,
Must ever shock, like armed foes,
And this be true, till Time shall close.
That Principles are rain'd in blood;
Not yet the wise of heart would cease

To hold his hope thro' shame and guilt.
But with his hand against the hilt,
Would pace the troubled land, like
Peace;

Not less, tho' dogs of Faction bay,
Would serve his kind in deed and

word,

Certain, if knowledge bring the sword, That knowledge takes the sword away—

I heard the water lapping on the crag And the long ripple washing in th reeds."

64

To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath:

· Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue, Unknightly, traitor-hearted! Woe is me Authority forgets a dying king. Laid widow'd of the power in his eye That bow'd the will. I see thee wha thou art,

For thou, the latest-left of all m' knights,

In whom should meet the offices of all, Thou wouldst betray me for the preciou hilt;

Either from lust of gold, or like a girl
Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes.
Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice
And the third time may prosper, ge
thee hence:

But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur,
I will arise and slay thee with my hands.
Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and