As when a soul laments, which hath been Take warning! he that will not sing round, He hath no other life above. He gave me a friend, and a true true-love, Old year, you must not go; So long as you have been with us, He froth'd his bumpers to the brim ; Old year, you shall not 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 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 : 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 Since that dear soul hath fall'n asleep. 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 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 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; 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 ; 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 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 Ev'n now we hear with inward strife A slow-develop'd strength awaits 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; |