V.

Autumn. "I come to break thy prison bars
Which here I bury,

That thou may'st hie thee to the stars

Of earth so weary!

Chains of decay I bring to bind,

To let go thy mind,

Clouds and gloom profound

To my car are bound,

That thou may'st thy spirit bow

To thy chains,

And remember what is now,

And what remains!"

VI.

Wind

away,

and leave the sail,

I would be alone!

Spring away with fragrant gale

And flowing zone,

Borne upon thine azure chair

By zephyrs fair!

Thoughts penitential, sternly kind,

Upon the hollow-sounding wind,

That blows aside Autumn's lank hair,
And shews his forehead bare,

Come to me!

I would be

With thoughts that must with silence dwell,

And solitude;

Dress my abode,

And with me dwell!

Ye become my hermit cell,

And crazy shed,

Till Autumn hath scoop'd out my bed,
Thoughts that may most seemly be
While the watcher stands,

With axe and lifted hands,

And looks at me,—

A barren tree.

It is all like moving mail,

Leaden panoply,

A field with thunders sown.

Gather in the sail,

And listen for the gale,

I would be alone!

What is that in coming storm?

It is meek Mercy's form

Stretching out her arms from out a crystal throne.

And afar from murky shroud
There streams a silver cloud!
O shadows of things true!

Lord, Thy Judgment's coming on,
And I have much to be undone,
And much to do!

THE ADVENT.

"In my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Job xix.

Mortal eye shall see

Thee soon,

Ear shall hear Thee! it may light

In the calm of summer noon,

Or in silence of the night,

When Thy glory from afar shall be known,

As beneath Thy feet the sky,

Bends her crystal canopy,
Seen in terror's panoply,
Coming down.

As on the stricken lyre

When th' unnumber'd trembling goes,
Or the flood of morning fires

Breaks

upon the night's repose,

The Universe shall rise at Thy coming!
When the Sun shall make his bed,

Moon and stars shall shake with dread,
And th' Archangel, at whose tread

Earth shall ring,

Shall descend with a shout!

I, in flesh, shall stand and see
Countless multitudes throughout,
Thy full countenance on me!
'Mid innumerable hosts on each one,
As in grains on glittering beach,
As in waves in ocean's reach,
With his full-orb'd eye in each
Shines the Sun!

Again, as Man below,

Though for justice armed, yet

O'er Thee love's celestial bow,
Like a radiant glory set,

Encompassing the terrors of Thy throne,

As beside Thy tomb of yore,

Or by Galilean shore,

In the form that dies no more,

Seen and known.

As caught from Bethany,
In a cloud of glowing sheen;
As on the right hand on high,
By the dying Stephen seen,
Binding in Infinity to a span!
As when girt with golden zone,
As when on the cloudy throne,