Oh! talk of Him in solitary glooms, Where o'er the rock the scarcely waving pine Ye headlong torrents, rapid and profound; Ye forests, bend; ye harvests, wave to Him; From world to world the vital ocean round, Sweetest of birds, sweet nightingale, entrance The listening shades, and teach the night His praise. Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles, James Thomson. UP 19. TO A SKYLARK. P with me, up with me, into the clouds! Up with me, up with me into the clouds, With clouds and sky about thee ringing, That spot which seems so to thy mind. I have walked through wildernesses dreary, Up to thee would I fly. There is madness about thee, and joy divine Lift me, guide me, high and high, 20. JOYOUS AS MORNING. art laughing and scorning; THOU art laughest for thy love and thy rest; And, though little troubled with sloth, Happy, happy liver, With a soul as strong as a mountain-river, Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven, wind; But hearing thee, or others of thy kind, As full of gladness, and as free of heaven, And hope for higher raptures when life's day is done. Wordsworth. 21. ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH. HIGHER, higher, will we climb, Up to the mount of glory, That our names may live through time Deeper, deeper, let us toil In the mines of knowledge; Nature's wealth and learning's spoil Win from school and college; Delve we there for richer gems Than the stars of diadems. Onward, onward, may we press, Excellence, true beauty. Minds are of celestial birth: Make we, then, a heaven of earth. Closer, closer, let us knit Hearts and hands together, Where our fireside comforts sit In the wildest weather. Oh! they wander wide who roam, James Montgomery. 22. THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN. IGH thoughts, HIG They come and go Like the soft breathing of a listening maiden, The winds from woods and fields with glad- When the corn's rustle on the ear doth come; When the eve's beetle sounds its drowsy hum; When the stars, dewdrops of the summer sky, Watch over all with soft and loving eye,— While the leaves quiver By the lone river, And the quiet heart From depths doth call, And garners all, Earth grows a shadow; Forgotten whole, And heaven lives In the blessed soul! High thoughts! They are with me When deep within the bosom of the forest Thy morning melody Abroad into the sky, thou, throstle, pourest; When the young beams glance among the trees; When on the ear comes the soft song of bees; |