The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume I Part 111

But lo! the boatman, over-aw'd, before The pictur'd fane of Tell suspends his oar; Confused the Marathonian tale appears, 350 While burn in his full eyes the glorious tears.

And who but feels a power of strong controul, Felt only there, oppress his labouring soul, Who walks, where honour'd men of ancient days Have wrought with G.o.d-like arm the deeds of praise? 355 Say, who, by thinking on Canadian hills, Or wild Aosta lulled by Alpine rills, On Zutphen's plain; or where with soften'd gaze The old grey stones the plaided chief surveys, Can guess the high resolve, the cherish'd pain 360 Of him whom pa.s.sion rivets to the plain, Where breath'd the gale that caught Wolfe's happiest sigh, And the last sun-beam fell on Bayard's eye, Where bleeding Sydney from the cup retir'd, And glad Dundee in "faint huzzas" expir'd. 365

But now with other soul I stand alone Sublime upon this far-surveying cone, And watch from [P] pike to pike amid the sky Small as a bird the chamois-chaser fly.

'Tis his with fearless step at large to roam 370 Thro' wastes, of Spirits wing'd the solemn home, [Q] Thro' vacant worlds where Nature never gave A brook to murmur or a bough to wave, Which unsubstantial Phantoms sacred keep; Thro' worlds where Life and Sound, and Motion sleep, 375 Where Silence still her death-like reign extends, Save when the startling cliff unfrequent rends: In the deep snow the mighty ruin drown'd, Mocks the dull ear of Time with deaf abortive sound; --To mark a planet's pomp and steady light 380 In the least star of scarce-appearing night, And neighbouring moon, that coasts the vast profound, Wheel pale and silent her diminish'd round, While far and wide the icy summits blaze Rejoicing in the glory of her rays; 385 The star of noon that glitters small and bright, Shorn of his beams, insufferably white, And flying fleet behind his...o...b..to view Th' interminable sea of sable blue.

--Of cloudless suns no more ye frost-built spires 390 Refract in rainbow hues the restless fires!

Ye dewy mists the arid rocks o'er-spread Whose slippery face derides his deathful tread!

--To wet the peak's impracticable sides He opens of his feet the sanguine tides, 395 Weak and more weak the issuing current eyes Lapp'd by the panting tongue of thirsty skies. [R]

--At once bewildering mists around him close, And cold and hunger are his least of woes; The Demon of the snow with angry roar 400 Descending, shuts for aye his prison door.

Craz'd by the strength of hope at morn he eyes As sent from heav'n the raven of the skies, Then with despair's whole weight his spirits sink, No bread to feed him, and the snow his drink, 405 While ere his eyes can close upon the day, The eagle of the Alps o'ershades his prey.

--Meanwhile his wife and child with cruel hope All night the door at every moment ope; Haply that child in fearful doubt may gaze, 410 Pa.s.sing his father's bones in future days, Start at the reliques of that very thigh, On which so oft he prattled when a boy.

Hence shall we turn where, heard with fear afar, Thunders thro' echoing pines the headlong Aar? 415 Or rather stay to taste the mild delights Of pensive [S] Underwalden's pastoral heights?

--Is there who mid these awful wilds has seen The native Genii walk the mountain green?

Or heard, while other worlds their charms reveal, 420 Soft music from th' aereal summit steal?

While o'er the desert, answering every close, Rich steam of sweetest perfume comes and goes.

--And sure there is a secret Power that reigns Here, where no trace of man the spot profanes, 425 Nought but the herds that pasturing upward creep, Hung dim-discover'd from the dangerous steep, [T] Or summer hamlet, flat and bare, on high Suspended, mid the quiet of the sky.

How still! no irreligious sound or sight 430 Rouzes the soul from her severe delight.

An idle voice the sabbath region fills Of Deep that calls to Deep across the hills, Broke only by the melancholy sound Of drowsy bells for ever tinkling round; 435 Faint wail of eagle melting into blue Beneath the cliffs, and pine-woods steady sugh; [U]

The solitary heifer's deepen'd low; Or rumbling heard remote of falling snow.

Save that, the stranger seen below, the boy 440 Shouts from the echoing hills with savage joy.

When warm from myrtle bays and tranquil seas, Comes on, to whisper hope, the [V] vernal breeze, When hums the mountain bee in May's glad ear, And emerald isles to spot the heights appear, 445 When shouts and lowing herds the valley fill, And louder torrents stun the noon-tide hill, When fragrant scents beneath th' enchanted tread Spring up, his little all around him spread, The pastoral Swiss begins the cliffs to scale 450 To silence leaving the deserted vale, Up the green mountain tracking Summer's feet, Each twilight earlier call'd the Sun to meet, With earlier smile the ray of morn to view Fall on his shifting hut that gleams mid smoking dew; 455 Bless'd with his herds, as in the patriarch's age, The summer long to feed from stage to stage; O'er azure pikes serene and still, they go, And hear the rattling thunder far below; Or lost at eve in sudden mist the day 460 Attend, or dare with minute-steps their way; Hang from the rocks that tremble o'er the steep, And tempt the icy valley yawning deep, O'er-walk the chasmy torrent's foam-lit bed, Rock'd on the dizzy larch's narrow tread, 465 Whence Danger leans, and pointing ghastly, joys To mock the mind with "desperation's toys"; Or steal beneath loose mountains, half deterr'd, That sigh and shudder to the lowing herd.

--I see him, up the midway cliff he creeps 470 To where a scanty knot of verdure peeps, Thence down the steep a pile of gra.s.s he throws The fodder of his herds in winter snows.

Far different life to what tradition h.o.a.r Transmits of days more bless'd in times of yore. [W] 475 Then Summer lengthen'd out his season bland, And with rock-honey flow'd the happy land.

Continual fountains welling chear'd the waste, And plants were wholesome, now of deadly taste.

Nor Winter yet his frozen stores had pil'd 480 Usurping where the fairest herbage smil'd; Nor Hunger forc'd the herds from pastures bare For scanty food the treacherous cliffs to dare.

Then the milk-thistle bad those herds demand Three times a day the pail and welcome hand. 485 But human vices have provok'd the rod Of angry Nature to avenge her G.o.d.

Thus does the father to his sons relate, On the lone mountain top, their chang'd estate.

Still, Nature, ever just, to him imparts 490 Joys only given to uncorrupted hearts.

--'Tis morn: with gold the verdant mountain glows, More high, the snowy peaks with hues of rose.

Far stretch'd beneath the many-tinted hills A mighty waste of mist the valley fills, 495 A solemn sea! whose vales and mountains round Stand motionless, to awful silence bound.

A gulf of gloomy blue, that opens wide And bottomless, divides the midway tide.

Like leaning masts of stranded ships appear 500 The pines that near the coast their summits rear; Of cabins, woods, and lawns a pleasant sh.o.r.e Bounds calm and clear the chaos still and h.o.a.r; Loud thro' that midway gulf ascending, sound Unnumber'd streams with hollow roar profound. 505 Mounts thro' the nearer mist the chaunt of birds, And talking voices, and the low of herds, The bark of dogs, the drowsy tinkling bell, And wild-wood mountain lutes of saddest swell.

Think not, suspended from the cliff on high 510 He looks below with undelighted eye.

--No vulgar joy is his, at even tide Stretch'd on the scented mountain's purple side.

For as the pleasures of his simple day Beyond his native valley hardly stray, 515 Nought round it's darling precincts can he find But brings some past enjoyment to his mind, While Hope that ceaseless leans on Pleasure's urn Binds her wild wreathes, and whispers his return.

Once Man entirely free, alone and wild, 520 Was bless'd as free--for he was Nature's child.

He, all superior but his G.o.d disdain'd, Walk'd none restraining, and by none restrain'd, Confess'd no law but what his reason taught, Did all he wish'd, and wish'd but what he ought. 525 As Man in his primaeval dower array'd The image of his glorious sire display'd, Ev'n so, by vestal Nature guarded, here The traces of primaeval Man appear.

The native dignity no forms debase, 530 The eye sublime, and surly lion-grace.

The slave of none, of beasts alone the lord, He marches with his flute, his book, and sword, Well taught by that to feel his rights, prepar'd With this "the blessings he enjoys to guard." 535

And as on glorious ground he draws his breath, Where Freedom oft, with Victory and Death, Hath seen in grim array amid their Storms Mix'd with auxiliar Rocks, three [X] hundred Forms; While twice ten thousand corselets at the view 540 Dropp'd loud at once, Oppression shriek'd, and flew.

Oft as those sainted Rocks before him spread, An unknown power connects him with the dead.

For images of other worlds are there, Awful the light, and holy is the air. 545 Uncertain thro' his fierce uncultur'd soul Like lighted tempests troubled transports roll; To viewless realms his Spirit towers amain, Beyond the senses and their little reign.

And oft, when pa.s.s'd that solemn vision by, 550 He holds with G.o.d himself communion high, When the dread peal of swelling torrents fills The sky-roof'd temple of th' eternal hills, And savage Nature humbly joins the rite, While flash her upward eyes severe delight. 555 Or gazing from the mountain's silent brow, Bright stars of ice and azure worlds of snow, Where needle peaks of granite shooting bare Tremble in ever-varying tints of air, Great joy by horror tam'd dilates his heart, 560 And the near heav'ns their own delights impart.

--When the Sun bids the gorgeous scene farewell, Alps overlooking Alps their state upswell; Huge Pikes of Darkness nam'd, of [Y] Fear and Storms Lift, all serene, their still, illumin'd forms, 565 In sea-like reach of prospect round him spread, Ting'd like an angel's smile all rosy red.

When downward to his winter hut he goes, Dear and more dear the lessening circle grows, That hut which from the hills his eyes employs 570 So oft, the central point of all his joys.

And as a swift by tender cares oppress'd Peeps often ere she dart into her nest, So to th' untrodden floor, where round him looks His father helpless as the babe he rocks, 575 Oft he descends to nurse the brother pair, Till storm and driving ice blockade him there; There hears, protected by the woods behind, Secure, the chiding of the baffled wind, Hears Winter, calling all his Terrors round, 580 Rush down the living rocks with whirlwind sound.

Thro' Nature's vale his homely pleasures glide Unstain'd by envy, discontent, and pride, The bound of all his vanity to deck With one bright bell a favourite heifer's neck; 585 Content upon some simple annual feast, Remember'd half the year, and hop'd the rest, If dairy produce, from his inner h.o.a.rd, Of thrice ten summers consecrate the board.

--Alas! in every clime a flying ray 590 Is all we have to chear our wintry way, Condemn'd, in mists and tempests ever rife, To pant slow up the endless Alp of life.

"Here," cried a swain, whose venerable head Bloom'd with the snow-drops of Man's narrow bed, 595 Last night, while by his dying fire, as clos'd The day, in luxury my limbs repos'd, "Here Penury oft from misery's mount will guide Ev'n to the summer door his icy tide, And here the avalanche of Death destroy 600 The little cottage of domestic Joy.

But, ah! th' unwilling mind may more than trace The general sorrows of the human race: The churlish gales, that unremitting blow Cold from necessity's continual snow, 605 To us the gentle groups of bliss deny That on the noon-day bank of leisure lie.

Yet more; the tyrant Genius, still at strife With all the tender Charities of life, When close and closer they begin to strain, 610 No fond hand left to staunch th' unclosing vein, Tearing their bleeding ties leaves Age to groan On his wet bed, abandon'd and alone.

For ever, fast as they of strength become To pay the filial debt, for food to roam, 615 The father, forc'd by Powers that only deign That solitary Man disturb their reign, From his bare nest amid the storms of heaven Drives, eagle-like, his sons as he was driven, His last dread pleasure! watches to the plain-- 620 And never, eagle-like, beholds again." [Z]

When the poor heart has all its joys resign'd, Why does their sad remembrance cleave behind?

Lo! by the lazy Seine the exile roves, Or where thick sails illume Batavia's groves; 625 Soft o'er the waters mournful measures swell, Unlocking bleeding Thought's "memorial cell"; At once upon his heart Despair has set Her seal, the mortal tear his cheek has wet; Strong poison not a form of steel can brave 630 Bows his young hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Gay lark of hope thy silent song resume!

Fair smiling lights the purpled hills illume!

Soft gales and dews of life's delicious morn, And thou, lost fragrance of the heart return! 635 [Aa] Soon flies the little joy to man allow'd, And tears before him travel like a cloud.

For come Diseases on, and Penury's rage, Labour, and Pain, and Grief, and joyless Age, And Conscience d.o.g.g.i.ng close his bleeding way 640 Cries out, and leads her Spectres to their prey, 'Till Hope-deserted, long in vain his breath Implores the dreadful untried sleep of Death.

--Mid savage rocks and seas of snow that shine Between interminable tracts of pine, 645 Round a lone fane the human Genii mourn, Where fierce the rays of woe collected burn.

--From viewless lamps a ghastly dimness falls, And ebbs uncertain on the troubled walls, Dim dreadful faces thro' the gloom appear, 650 Abortive Joy, and Hope that works in fear, While strives a secret Power to hush the crowd, Pain's wild rebellious burst proclaims her rights aloud.

Oh give not me that eye of hard disdain That views undimm'd Einsiedlen's [Bb] wretched fane. 655 Mid muttering prayers all sounds of torment meet, Dire clap of hands, distracted chafe of feet, While loud and dull ascends the weeping cry, Surely in other thoughts contempt may die.

If the sad grave of human ignorance bear 660 One flower of hope--Oh pa.s.s and leave it there.

--The tall Sun, tiptoe on an Alpine spire, Flings o'er the desert blood-red streams of fire.

At such an hour there are who love to stray, And meet the gladdening pilgrims on their way. 665 --Now with joy's tearful kiss each other greet, Nor longer naked be your way-worn feet, For ye have reach'd at last that happy sh.o.r.e, Where the charm'd worm of pain shall gnaw no more.

How gayly murmur and how sweetly taste 670 The [Cc] fountains rear'd for you amid the waste!

Yes I will see you when ye first behold Those turrets tipp'd by hope with morning gold, And watch, while on your brows the cross ye make, Round your pale eyes a wintry l.u.s.tre wake. 675 --Without one hope her written griefs to blot, Save in the land where all things are forgot, My heart, alive to transports long unknown, Half wishes your delusion were it's own.

Last let us turn to where Chamouny [Dd] shields, 680 Bosom'd in gloomy woods, her golden fields, Five streams of ice amid her cots descend, And with wild flowers and blooming orchards blend, A scene more fair than what the Grecian feigns Of purple lights and ever vernal plains. 685 Here lawns and shades by breezy rivulets fann'd, Here all the Seasons revel hand in hand, --Red stream the cottage lights; the landscape fades, Erroneous wavering mid the twilight shades.

Alone ascends that mountain nam'd of white, [Ee] 690 That dallies with the Sun the summer night.

Six thousand years amid his lonely bounds The voice of Ruin, day and night, resounds.

Where Horror-led his sea of ice a.s.sails, Havoc and Chaos blast a thousand vales, 695 In waves, like two enormous serpents, wind And drag their length of deluge train behind.

Between the pines enormous boughs descry'd Serene he towers, in deepest purple dy'd; Glad Day-light laughs upon his top of snow, 700 Glitter the stars above, and all is black below.

At such an hour I heav'd the human sigh, When roar'd the sullen Arve in anger by, That not for thee, delicious vale! unfold Thy reddening orchards, and thy fields of gold; 705 That thou, the [Ff] slave of slaves, art doom'd to pine, While no Italian arts their charms combine To teach the skirt of thy dark cloud to shine; For thy poor babes that, hurrying from the door, With pale-blue hands, and eyes that fix'd implore, 710 Dead muttering lips, and hair of hungry white, Besiege the traveller whom they half affright.

--Yes, were it mine, the cottage meal to share Forc'd from my native mountains bleak and bare; O'er [Gg] Anet's hopeless seas of marsh to stray, 715 Her shrill winds roaring round my lonely way; To scent the sweets of Piedmont's breathing rose, And orange gale that o'er Lugano blows; In the wide range of many a weary round, Still have my pilgrim feet unfailing found, 720 As despot courts their blaze of gems display, Ev'n by the secret cottage far away The lilly of domestic joy decay; While Freedom's farthest hamlets blessings share, Found still beneath her smile, and only there. 725 The cas.e.m.e.nt shade more luscious woodbine binds, And to the door a neater pathway winds, At early morn the careful housewife, led To cull her dinner from it's garden bed, Of weedless herbs a healthier prospect sees, 730 While hum with busier joy her happy bees; In brighter rows her table wealth aspires, And laugh with merrier blaze her evening fires; Her infant's cheeks with fresher roses glow, And wilder graces sport around their brow; 735 By clearer taper lit a cleanlier board Receives at supper hour her tempting h.o.a.rd; The chamber hearth with fresher boughs is spread, And whiter is the hospitable bed.

--And thou! fair favoured region! which my soul 740 Shall love, till Life has broke her golden bowl, Till Death's cold touch her cistern-wheel a.s.sail, And vain regret and vain desire shall fail; Tho' now, where erst the grey-clad peasant stray'd, To break the quiet of the village shade 745 Gleam war's [Hh] discordant habits thro' the trees, And the red banner mock the sullen breeze; Tho' now no more thy maids their voices suit To the low-warbled breath of twilight lute, And heard, the pausing village hum between, 750 No solemn songstress lull the fading green, Scared by the fife, and rumbling drum's alarms, And the short thunder, and the flash of arms; While, as Night bids the startling uproar die, Sole sound, the [Ii] sourd renews his mournful cry: 755 --Yet, hast thou found that Freedom spreads her pow'r Beyond the cottage hearth, the cottage door: All nature smiles; and owns beneath her eyes Her fields peculiar, and peculiar skies.

Yes, as I roam'd where Loiret's [Jj] waters glide 760 Thro' rustling aspins heard from side to side, When from October clouds a milder light Fell, where the blue flood rippled into white, Methought from every cot the watchful bird Crowed with ear-piercing power 'till then unheard; 765 Each clacking mill, that broke the murmuring streams, Rock'd the charm'd thought in more delightful dreams; Chasing those long long dreams the falling leaf Awoke a fainter pang of moral grief; The measured echo of the distant flail 770 Winded in sweeter cadence down the vale; A more majestic tide the [Kk] water roll'd, And glowed the sun-gilt groves in richer gold:

--Tho' Liberty shall soon, indignant, raise Red on his hills his beacon's comet blaze; 775 Bid from on high his lonely cannon sound, And on ten thousand hearths his shout rebound; His larum-bell from village-tow'r to tow'r Swing on th' astounded ear it's dull undying roar: Yet, yet rejoice, tho' Pride's perverted ire 780 Rouze h.e.l.l's own aid, and wrap thy hills in fire.

Lo! from th' innocuous flames, a lovely birth!

With it's own Virtues springs another earth: Nature, as in her prime, her virgin reign Begins, and Love and Truth compose her train; 785 With pulseless hand, and fix'd unwearied gaze, Unbreathing Justice her still beam surveys: No more, along thy vales and viny groves, Whole hamlets disappearing as he moves, With cheeks o'erspread by smiles of baleful glow, 790 On his pale horse shall fell Consumption go.

Oh give, great G.o.d, to Freedom's waves to ride Sublime o'er Conquest, Avarice, and Pride, To break, the vales where Death with Famine scow'rs, And dark Oppression builds her thick-ribb'd tow'rs; 795 Where Machination her fell soul resigns, Fled panting to the centre of her mines; Where Persecution decks with ghastly smiles Her bed, his mountains mad Ambition piles; Where Discord stalks dilating, every hour, 800 And crouching fearful at the feet of Pow'r, Like Lightnings eager for th' almighty word, Look up for sign of havoc, Fire, and Sword; [Ll]

--Give them, beneath their breast while Gladness springs, To brood the nations o'er with Nile-like wings; 805 And grant that every sceptred child of clay, Who cries, presumptuous, "here their tides shall stay,"

Swept in their anger from th' affrighted sh.o.r.e, With all his creatures sink--to rise no more.

To-night, my friend, within this humble cot 810 Be the dead load of mortal ills forgot, Renewing, when the rosy summits glow At morn, our various journey, sad and slow.