66 THE SHEPHERD-POET OF THE ALPS. 249 Thou, that for joy wert born, Free as the wings of morn! Will aught thy young life cherish, Where the Alpine rose would perish? "Canst thou be singing still, As once on every hill? Is not thy soul forsaken, And the bright gift from thee taken?— Alas, alas, my brother!" And was the bright gift from the captive fled? Like the fire on his hearth, was his spirit dead? Not so!-but as rooted in stillness deep, The pure stream-lily its place will keep, Though its tearful urns to the blast may quiver, While the red waves rush down the foaming river, So freedom's faith in his bosom lay, Trembling, yet not to be borne away! He thought of the Alps and their breezy air, With a glance inspired which no grief could tame, While the strengthening voice of mighty wrongs But his dreams were fill'd by a haunting tone, And his soul was pierced by a mournful eye, At the gates of the mountain citadel! Hark! a clear voice through the rude sounds ringing! Doth he know the strain, and the wild, sweet singing? "There may not long be fetters, Where the cloud is earth's array, And the bright floods leap from cave and steep, Like a hunter on the prey! 251 TO THE MOUNTAIN WINDS. "There may not long be fetters, Where the white Alps have their towers; It is she! She is come like a dayspring beam, She that so mournfully shadow'd his dream! With her shining eyes and her buoyant form, She is come! her tears on his cheek are warm; And O! the thrill in that weeping voice! 66 My brother, my brother! come forth, rejoice!" -Poet! the land of thy love is free, TO THE MOUNTAIN WINDS. "How divine The liberty, for frail, for mortal man, WORDSWORTH. MOUNTAIN Winds! oh! whither do ye call me? Oh! the strife of this divided being! Is there peace where ye are borne on high? Surely music of oblivion sweepeth In the pathway of your wanderings free; There the rushing of the falcon's pinion Mountain winds! oh! is it, is it only Where man's trace hath been that so we pine? Bear me up, to grow in thought less lonely, Even at nature's deepest, loneliest shrine! Wild, and mighty, and mysterious singers! At whose tone my heart within me burns; There to commune with a loftier spirit Where the enduring and the wing'd are met. THE PROCESSION. Hush, proud voices, gentle be your falling! Woman's lot thus chainless may not be; 253 Hush! the heart your trumpet sounds are calling, Darkly still may grow-but never free! THE PROCESSION. "The peace which passeth all understanding,' disclosed itself in her looks and movements. It lay on her countenance like a steady unshadowed moonlight.". COLERIDGE. THERE were trampling sounds of many feet, There were banners to the winds unroll'd, Borne from their dwellings, green and lone, strown; And wheels that crush'd as they swept along — Oh! what doth the violet amidst the throng? I saw where a bright procession pass'd 22 |