4.

THE RETREAT.

HAPPY those early days, when I
Shin'd in my angel-infancy!
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy ought
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walk'd above
A mile or two, from my first love,

And looking back at that short space

Could see a glimpse of His bright face;

When on some gilded cloud or flower

My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;

Before I taught my tongue to wound
My conscience with a sinful sound,
Or had the black art to dispense,
A sev'ral sin to ev'ry sense,
But felt through all this fleshly dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.
Oh how I long to travel back,
And tread again that ancient track!
That I might once more reach that plain,
Where first I left my glorious train;
From whence th' enlightened spirit sees
That shady city of palm trees.
But ah! my soul with too much stay
Is drunk, and staggers in the way!

Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps will move;
And when this dust falls to the urn,
Into that state I came, return.

66

Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe,
Sing thy songs of happy cheer: "
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read "-
So he vanished from my sight;
And I plucked a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs,
Every child may joy to hear.

- WILLIAM BLAKE.

6.

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

"So the dreams depart,

So the fading phantoms flee,

And the sharp reality

Now must act its part."

- WESTWOOD'S Beads from a Rosary.

I.

LITTLE Ellie sits alone

'Mid the beeches of a meadow,

By a stream-side on the grass,
And the trees are showering down
Doubles of their leaves in shadow,
On her shining hair and face.

II.

She has thrown her bonnet by,
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow;

Now she holds them nakedly

In her hands, all sleek and dripping,
While she rocketh to and fro.

III.

Little Ellie sits alone,

And the smile she softly uses

Fills the silence like a speech,
While she thinks what shall be done,
And the sweetest pleasure chooses
For her future within reach.

IV.

Little Ellie in her smile

Chooses, "I will have a lover, Riding on a steed of steeds: He shall love me without guile, And to him I will discover

The swan's nest among the reeds.

V.

"And the steed shall be red-roan, And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath.

And the lute he plays upon

Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death.

VI.

"And the steed it shall be shod

All in silver, housed in azure;

And the mane shall swim the wind;

And the hoofs along the sod

Shall flash onward, and keep measure,
Till the shepherds look behind.

VII.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in,

When he gazes in my face.

He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes
Build the shrine my soul abides in,
And I kneel here for thy grace!'

VIII.

"Then, ay, then he shall kneel low,
With the red-roan steed anear him,
Which shall seem to understand,
Till I answer, 'Rise and go!

For the world must love and fear him
Whom I gift with heart and hand.

IX.

"Then he will arise so pale,

I shall feel my own lips tremble
With a yes I must not say:
Nathless maiden-brave, 'Farewell,'
I will utter, and dissemble —
'Light to-morrow with to-day!'

X.

"Then he'll ride among the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong,

To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver
Which the wicked bear along.

XI.

"Three times shall a young foot-page

Swim the stream, and climb the mountain,
And kneel down beside my feet:

'Lo! my master sends this gage,
Lady, for thy pity's counting.

What wilt thou exchange for it?'