No beast, no bird, hath here his home; The Danish Boy walks here alone: III A Spirit of noon-day is he; Yet seems a form of flesh and blood; A regal vest of fur he wears, It fears not rain, nor wind, nor dew; IV A harp is from his shoulder slung ; Of flocks upon the neighbouring hill V There sits he; in his face you spy 20 30 40 So steady or so fair. The lovely Danish Boy is blest XXIII SONG FOR THE WANDERING JEW HOUGH the torrents from their fountains ΤΗ Yet they find among the mountains Clouds that love through air to hasten, What, if through the frozen centre And the Sea-horse, though the ocean If on windy days the Raven The fleet Ostrich, till day closes, When chill night that care demands. Night and day, I feel the trouble XXIV STRAY PLEASURES -Pleasure is spread through the earth 1800 In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.' Y their floating mill, BY That lies dead and still, Behold yon Prisoners three, ΤΟ 20 The Miller with two Dames, on the breast of the Thames! The platform is small, but gives room for them all; From the shore come the notes To their mill where it floats, To their house and their mill tethered fast: To the small wooden isle where, their work to beguile, They from morning to even take whatever is given ;— And many a blithe day they have past. In sight of the spires, All alive with the fires Of the sun going down to his rest, In the broad open eye of the solitary sky, Man and Maidens wheel, They themselves make the reel, They dance not for me, Yet mine is their glee! Thus pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find ; The showers of the spring Rouse the birds, and they sing; If the wind do but stir for his proper delight, XXV THE PILGRIM'S DREAM OR, THE STAR AND THE GLOW-WORM A PILGRIM, when the summer-day Or heath-besprinkled copse might yield, 1806 12 20 30 He paced along; and, pensively, Whose moss-grown root might serve for couch Fixed on a Star his upward eye; Then from the tenant of the sky He turned, and watched with kindred look The murmur of a neighbouring stream A pregnant dream, within whose shadowy bounds He recognised the earth-born Star, And That which glittered from afar; And (strange to witness!) from the frame Intelligible sounds. Much did it taunt the humble Light That now, when day was fled, and night Hushed the dark earth, fast closing weary eyes, A very reptile could presume To show her taper in the gloom, As if in rivalship with One Who sate a ruler on his throne 'Exalted Star!' the Worm replied, 'But not for this do I aspire To match the spark of local fire, That at my will burns on the dewy lawn, With thy acknowledged glories ;-No! Yet, thus upbraided, I may show What favours do attend me here, Till, like thyself, I disappear ΙΟ 20 30 40 When this in modest guise was said, A boding sound-for aught but sleep unfit! In the blue depth, like Lucifer Cast headlong to the pit! Fire raged and, when the spangled floor Of ancient ether was no more, 50 New heavens succeeded, by the dream brought forth: And all the happy Souls that rode Transfigured through that fresh abode This knowledge, from an Angel's voice 60 Was to the Pilgrim's soul endeared, 70 Where by that dream he had been cheered 1818 XXVI THE POET AND THE CAGED TURTLEDOVE S often as I murmur here A My half-formed melodies, Straight from her osier mansion near The captive promptly coos; I rather think the gentle Dove ΤΟ |