In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot Beneath thee, that is England; there she lies. Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot, One life, one glory !—I, with many a fear For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs, Among men who do not love her, linger here.
CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802.
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, Post forward all, like creatures of one kind,
With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the new-born Majesty. 'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, A seemly reverence may be paid to power; But that's a loyal virtue, never sown
In haste, nor springing with a transient shower : When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown, What hardship had it been to wait an hour? Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
Composed near Calais, on the road leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802.
JONES!* as from Calais southward you and I Went pacing side by side, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,+ When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty : A homeless sound of joy was in the sky : From hour to hour the antiquated Earth,
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth,+ Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh! And now, sole register that these things were, Two solitary greetings have I heard, 'Good morrow, Citizen!' a hollow word, As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair Touches me not, though pensive as a bird Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare.
*This gentleman was Wordsworth's companion in a continental pedestrian tour twelve years before. The poet describes him as one of his earliest and dearest friends. He was a clergyman, and died in 1835. 14th July, 1790.
In the Edition of 1815 the first seven lines ran thus :
JONES! when from Calais southward you and I Travelled on foot together, then this way Which I am pacing now, was like the May With festivals of new-born Liberty.
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky, The antiquated earth, as one might say,
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, play,
I GRIEVED for Buonaparté, with a vain
And an unthinking grief! † The tenderest mood Of that Man's mind-what can it be? what food Fed his first hopes? what knowledge could he gain? 'Tis not in battles that from youth we train The Governor who must be wise and good, And temper with the sternness of the brain Thoughts motherly, and meek as womanhood. Wisdom doth live with children round her knees: Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the talk Man holds with week-day man in the hourly walk Of the mind's business: these are the degrees By which true Sway doth mount; this is the stalk True Power doth grow on; and her rights are these.
FESTIVALS have I seen that were not names: This is young Buonaparte's natal day,
* One evening in 1801, after hearing Milton's read, Wordsworth "took fire," as he said, and produced three, of which this was one. He could not particularize the others. They were his first sonnets, except an irregular one which he wrote at school. See ante, "Calm is all Nature as a resting wheel."
To genuine greatness but from just desires,
And knowledge such as He could never gain?-Edit. 1815.
And his is henceforth an established swayConsul for life. With worship France proclaims Her approbation, and with pomps and games. Heaven grant that other Cities may be gay!
Calais is not and I have bent my way
To the sea-coast, noting that each man frames His business as he likes. Far other show
My youth here witnessed, in a prouder time; The senselessness of joy was then sublime ! Happy is he, who, caring not for Pope, Consul, or King, can sound himself to know The destiny of Man, and live in hope.
ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC.
ONCE did She hold the gorgeous east in fee; And was the safeguard of the west the worth Of Venice did not fall below her birth, Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty. She was a maiden City, bright and free; No guile seduced, no force could violate And, when she took unto herself a Mate, She must espouse the everlasting Sea. And what if she had seen those glories fade, Those titles vanish, and that strength decay; Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid When her long life hath reached its final day: Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade Of that which once was great, is passed away.
THE Voice of song from distant lands shall call To that great King; shall hail the crowned Youth Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
How they with dignity may stand; or fall, If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end? That thought is one which neither can appal
Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done The thing which ought to be; is raised above All consequences: work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve : The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.
TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.*
TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men ! + Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den ;
* This St. Domingo chief was treacherously seized by the General of the French, and sent to France, where he was closely imprisoned by Napoleon. He died in 1803, when he had been ten months a prisoner.
Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den.-Edit. 1815.
« AnteriorContinuar » |