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As when a soul laments, which hath been Take warning! he that will not sing

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round,
He lieth still: he doth not move :
I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground, He will not see the dawn of day.
Where thou may'st warble, eat and dwell.

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He hath no other life above.

He gave me a friend, and a true true-love,
And the New-year will take 'em away.

Old year, you must not go;

So long as you have been with us,
Such joy as you have seen with us,
Old year, you shall not go.

He froth'd his bumpers to the brim ;
A jollier year we shall not see.
But tho' his eyes are waxing dim,
And tho' his foes speak ill of him,
He was a friend to me.

Old year, you shall not die;
We did so laugh and cry with you,
I've half a mind to die with you,
Old year, if you must die.

He was full of joke and jest,

Now thy flute-notes are changed to But all his merry quips are o'er.

coarse,

I hear thee not at all, or hoarse

As when a hawker hawks his wares.

To see him die, across the waste
His son and heir doth ride post-haste,

But he'll be dead before.

Every one for his own.

The night is starry and cold, my

friend,

'Tis strange that those we lean on most, Those in whose laps our limbs are nursed,

And the New-year blithe and bold, Fall into shadow, soonest lost :

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THE wind, that beats the mountain, I have not look'd upon you nigh,

blows

More softly round the open wold, And gently comes the world to those

That are cast in gentle mould.

And me this knowledge bolder made,

Or else I had not dared to flow
In these words toward you, and invade
Even with a verse your holy woe.

Since that dear soul hath fall'n asleep.
Great Nature is more wise than I:
I will not tell you not to weep.

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Where faction seldom gathers head,

71

Tho' Power should make from land to land

The name of Britain trebly greatTho' every channel of the State Should fill and choke with golden sand—

Yet waft me from the harbour-mouth,

Wild wind! I seek a warmer sky, And I will see before I die The palms and temples of the South.

Or old sat Freedom on the heights,

The thunders breaking at her feet : Above her shook the starry lights:

She heard the torrents meet.

There in her place she did rejoice,

Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind, But fragments of her mighty voice Came rolling on the wind.

Then stept she down thro' town and field
To mingle with the human race,
And part by part to men reveal'd

The fullness of her face

Grave mother of majestic works,

From her isle-altar gazing down, Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks, And, King-like, wears the crown :

Her open eyes desire the truth.

The wisdom of a thousand years

But by degrees to fullness wrought, Is in them. May perpetual youth

The strength of some diffusive

thought

Keep dry their light from tears;

Hath time and space to work and spread. That her fair form may stand and shine,

Should banded unions persecute

Opinion, and induce a time
When single thought is civil crime,

And individual freedom mute;

Make bright our days and light our

dreams,

Turning to scorn with lips divine

The falsehood of extremes!

LOVE thou thy land, with love far- That from Discussion's lip may fall

brought

From out the storied Past, and used Within the Present, but transfused Thro' future time by power of thought.

True love turn'd round on fixed poles, Love, that endures not sordid ends, For English natures, freemen, friends, Thy brothers and immortal souls.

But pamper not a hasty time,

Nor feed with crude imaginings The herd, wild hearts and feeble wings That every sophister can lime.

Deliver not the tasks of might

To weakness, neither hide the ray From those, not blind, who wait for day,

Tho' sitting girt with doubtful light.

Make knowledge circle with the winds;
But let her herald, Reverence, fly
Before her to whatever sky
Bear seed of men and growth of minds.

Watch what main-currents draw the years:

Cut Prejudice against the grain : But gentle words are always gain : Regard the weakness of thy peers :

Nor toil for title, place, or touch

Of pension, neither count on praise: It grows to guerdon after-days: Nor deal in watch-words overmuch :

Not clinging to some ancient saw ;
Not master'd by some modern term;
Not swift nor slow to change, but

firm:

And in its season bring the law;

With Life, that, working strongly,

binds

Set in all lights by many minds, To close the interests of all.

For Nature also, cold and warm, And moist and dry, devising long, Thro' many agents making strong, Matures the individual form.

Meet is it changes should control
Our being, lest we rust in ease.
All but the basis of the soul.
We all are changed by still degrees,

So let the change which comes be free To ingroove itself with that which flies, And work, a joint of state, that plies Its office, moved with sympathy.

A saying, hard to shape in act;

For all the past of Time reveals
A bridal dawn of thunder-peals,
Wherever Thought hath wedded Fact.

Ev'n now we hear with inward strife
A motion toiling in the gloom--
The Spirit of the years to come
Yearning to mix himself with Life.

A slow-develop'd strength awaits
Completion in a painful school;
Phantoms of other forms of rule,
New Majesties of mighty States -

The warders of the growing hour,

But vague in vapour, hard to mark ; And round them sea and air are dark With great contrivances of Power.

Of many changes, aptly join'd,

Is bodied forth the second whole. Regard gradation, lest the soul Of Discord race the rising wind;

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