There, [127] safely guarded by the woods behind, He hears the chiding of the baffled wind, Hears Winter calling all his terrors round, 490 And, blest within himself, he shrinks not from the sound. [128]
Through Nature"s vale his homely pleasures glide, Unstained by envy, discontent, and pride; The bound of all his vanity, to deck, With one bright bell, a favourite heifer"s neck; 495 Well pleased [129] upon some simple annual feast, Remembered half the year and hoped the rest, If dairy-produce, from his inner h.o.a.rd, Of thrice ten summers dignify [130] the board.
--Alas! in every clime a flying ray 500 Is all we have to cheer our wintry way; [131]
And here the unwilling mind [132] may more than trace The general sorrows of the human race: The churlish gales of penury, that blow Cold as the north-wind o"er a waste of snow, [133] 505 To them [134] the gentle groups of bliss deny That on the noon-day bank of leisure lie.
Yet more;--compelled by Powers which only deign That _solitary_ man disturb their reign, Powers that support an unremitting [135] strife 510 With all the tender charities of life, Full oft the father, when his sons have grown To manhood, seems their t.i.tle to disown; [136]
And from his nest [137] amid the storms of heaven Drives, eagle-like, those sons as he was driven; 515 With stern composure [138] watches to the plain-- And never, eagle-like, beholds again!
When long familiar joys are all resigned, Why does their sad remembrance haunt the mind? [139]
Lo! where through flat Batavia"s willowy groves, 520 Or by the lazy Seine, the exile roves; O"er the curled waters Alpine measures swell, And search the affections to their inmost cell; Sweet poison spreads along the listener"s veins, Turning past pleasures into mortal pains; [140] 525 Poison, which not a frame of steel can brave, Bows his young head with sorrow to the grave. [Aa]
Gay lark of hope, thy silent song resume!
Ye flattering eastern lights, once more the hills illume! [141]
Fresh [142] gales and dews of life"s delicious morn, 530 And thou, lost fragrance of the heart, return!
Alas! the little joy to man allowed, Fades like the l.u.s.tre of an evening cloud; [143]
Or like the beauty in a flower installed, Whose season was, and cannot be recalled. 535 Yet, when opprest by sickness, grief, or care, And taught that pain is pleasure"s natural heir, We still confide in more than we can know; Death would be else the favourite friend of woe. [144]
"Mid savage rocks, and seas of snow that shine, 540 Between interminable tracts of pine, Within a temple stands an awful shrine, [145]
By an uncertain light revealed, that falls On the mute Image and the troubled walls.
Oh! give not me that eye of hard disdain 545 That views, undimmed, Ensiedlen"s [Bb] wretched fane.
While ghastly faces through the gloom appear, [146]
Abortive joy, and hope that works in fear; [147]
While prayer contends with silenced agony, [148]
Surely in other thoughts contempt may die. 550 If the sad grave of human ignorance bear One flower of hope--oh, pa.s.s and leave it there! [Cc]
The tall sun, pausing [149] on an Alpine spire, Flings o"er the wilderness a stream of fire: Now meet we other pilgrims ere the day [150] 555 Close on the remnant of their weary way; While they are drawing toward the sacred floor Where, so they fondly think, the worm shall gnaw no more. [151]
How gaily murmur and how sweetly taste The fountains [Dd] reared for them [152] amid the waste! 560 Their thirst they slake:--they wash their toil-worn feet, And some with tears of joy each other greet. [153]
Yes, I must [154] see you when ye first behold Those holy turrets tipped with evening gold, In that glad moment will for you a sigh 565 Be heaved, of charitable sympathy; [155]
In that glad moment when your [156] hands are prest In mute devotion on the thankful breast!
Last, let us turn to Chamouny that shields [157]
With rocks and gloomy woods [158] her fertile fields: 570 Five streams of ice amid her cots descend, And with wild flowers and blooming orchards blend;--[Ee]
A scene more fair than what the Grecian feigns Of purple lights and ever-vernal plains; Here all the seasons revel hand in hand: 575 "Mid lawns and shades by breezy rivulets fanned [159]
[160] They sport beneath that mountain"s matchless height [161]
That holds no commerce with the summer night. [Ee]
From age to age, throughout [162] his lonely bounds The crash of ruin fitfully resounds; 580 Appalling [163] havoc! but serene his brow, Where daylight lingers on [164] perpetual snow; Glitter the stars, and all is black below. [Ee]
What marvel then if many a Wanderer sigh, While roars the sullen Arve in anger by, [165] 585 That not for thy reward, unrivall"d [166] Vale! [Ff]
Waves the ripe harvest in the autumnal gale; That thou, the slave of slaves, art doomed to pine And droop, while no Italian arts are thine, To soothe or cheer, to soften or refine. [167] 590
Hail Freedom! whether it was mine to stray, With shrill winds whistling round my lonely way, [168]
On [169] the bleak sides of c.u.mbria"s heath-clad moors, Or where dank sea-weed lashes Scotland"s sh.o.r.es; To scent the sweets of Piedmont"s breathing rose, 595 And orange gale that o"er Lugano blows; Still have I found, where Tyranny prevails, That virtue languishes and pleasure fails, [170]
While the remotest hamlets blessings share In thy loved [171] presence known, and only there; 600 _Heart_-blessings--outward treasures too which the eye Of the sun peeping through the clouds can spy, And every pa.s.sing breeze will testify. [172]
There, to the porch, belike with jasmine bound Or woodbine wreaths, a smoother path is wound; [173] 605 The housewife there a brighter garden sees, Where hum on busier wing her happy bees; [174]
On infant cheeks there fresher roses blow; And grey-haired men look up with livelier brow,--[175]
To greet the traveller needing food and rest; 610 Housed for the night, or but a half-hour"s guest. [176]
And oh, fair France! though now the traveller sees Thy three-striped banner fluctuate on the breeze;[177]
Though martial songs have banished songs of love, And nightingales desert the village grove, [178] 615 Scared by the fife and rumbling drum"s alarms, And the short thunder, and the flash of arms; That cease not till night falls, when far and nigh, Sole sound, the Sourd [Gg] prolongs his mournful cry! [179]
--Yet, hast thou found that Freedom spreads her power 620 Beyond the cottage-hearth, the cottage-door: All nature smiles, and owns beneath her eyes Her fields peculiar, and peculiar skies.
Yes, as I roamed where Loiret"s waters glide Through rustling aspens heard from side to side, 625 When from October clouds a milder light Fell where the blue flood rippled into white; Methought from every cot the watchful bird Crowed with ear-piercing power till then unheard; Each clacking mill, that broke the murmuring streams, 630 Rocked the charmed thought in more delightful dreams; Chasing those pleasant dreams, [180] the falling leaf Awoke a fainter sense [181] of moral grief; The measured echo of the distant flail Wound in more welcome cadence down the vale; 635 With more majestic course the water rolled, And ripening foliage shone with richer gold. [182]
--But foes are gathering--Liberty must raise Red on the hills her beacon"s far-seen blaze; Must bid the tocsin ring from tower to tower!-- 640 Nearer and nearer comes the trying hour! [183]
Rejoice, brave Land, though pride"s perverted ire Rouse h.e.l.l"s own aid, and wrap thy fields in fire: Lo, from the flames a great and glorious birth; As if a new-made heaven were hailing a new earth! [184] 645 --All cannot be: the promise is too fair For creatures doomed to breathe terrestrial air: Yet not for this will sober reason frown Upon that promise, not the hope disown; She knows that only from high aims ensue 650 Rich guerdons, and to them alone are due. [185]
Great G.o.d! by whom the strifes of men are weighed In an impartial balance, give thine aid To the just cause; and, oh! do thou preside Over the mighty stream now spreading wide: [Hh] 655 So shall its waters, from the heavens supplied In copious showers, from earth by wholesome springs, Brood o"er the long-parched lands with Nile-like wings!
And grant that every sceptred child of clay Who cries presumptuous, "Here the flood shall stay," [186] 660 May in its progress see thy guiding hand, And cease the acknowledged purpose to withstand; [187]
Or, swept in anger from the insulted sh.o.r.e, Sink with his servile bands, to rise no more! [188]
To-night, my Friend, within this humble cot 665 Be scorn and fear and hope alike forgot [189]
In timely sleep; and when, at break of day, On the tall peaks the glistening sunbeams play, [190]
With a light heart our course we may renew, The first whose footsteps print the mountain dew. [191] 670
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1827.
... a spot of holy ground, By Pain and her sad family unfound, Sure, Nature"s G.o.d that spot to man had given, Where murmuring rivers join the song of even; Where falls ... 1820.]
[Variant 2:
1836.
Where the resounding power of water shakes 1820.
Where with loud voice the power of waters shakes 1827.]
[Variant 3:
1836.
And not unrecompensed the man shall roam, Who, to converse with Nature, quits his home, And plods o"er hills and vales his way forlorn, Wooing her various charms from eve to morn. 1820.
Yet not unrecompensed the man shall roam, Who at the call of summer quits his home, And plods through some far realm o"er vale and height, Though seeking only holiday delight; 1827.]
[Variant 4: Lines 13 and 14 were introduced in 1827.]
[Variant 5: