1
Had this effulgence disappeared
With flying haste, I might have sent
Among the speechless clouds a look
Of blank astonishment;
But ’tis endued with power to stay
And solemnize one closing day
That frail Mortality may see
What is? ah no—but what can be.
Time was when field and watry cove
With modulated echoes rang
Of harp and voice while Angels sang
Amid the umbrageous grove;
Or ranged like stars along some sovereign Height
Warbled for heaven above and earth below
Strains suitable to both. Ye Sons of light,
If such communion were repeated now
Nor harp nor Seraph’s voice could move
Sublimer rapture, holier love,
Than doth this silent spectacle—the gleam,
The shadow—and the peace supreme.
2
What though no sound be heard? A deep
And solemn harmony pervades
The hollow vale from steep to steep
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh
Call’d forth by wondrous potency
Of beamy radiance that imbues
Whate’er it strikes with gem-like hues.
In vision exquisitely clear
Herds graze along the mountain-side
And glistening antlers are descried
And gilded flocks appear.
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish or hope divine
Informs my spirit, ne’er I can believe
That this magnificence is wholly thine!
From worlds unquicken’d by the Sun
A portion of the gift is won,
An intermingling of heav’n’s pomp is spread
On ground which British Shepherds tread.
3
Whence but from some celestial urn
These colours—wont to meet my eye
Where’er I wandered in the morn
Of blissful infancy?
This glimpse of glory, why renewed?
Nay, rather speak in gratitude!
For, if a vestige of those gleams
Survived, ’twas only in my dreams.
Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve
No less than Nature’s threatening voice,
If aught unworthy be my choice,
From Thee if I would swerve,
O let thy grace remind me of the light,
Full early lost and fruitlessly deplored,
Which, at this moment, on my waking sight
Appears to shine, by miracle restored.
My Soul though yet confined to earth
Rejoices in a second birth!
—Tis past—the visionary splendor fades
And Night approaches with her shades.
