Charlotte Smith

“ And mock the arrowy sleet, or weltering snows.
—But to the warmer West the Woodbine fair
With tassels that perfumed the Summer air,
The mantling Clematis, whose feathery bowers
Waved in festoons with Nightshade's purple flowers,
The silver weed, whose corded fillets wove
Round thy pale rind, even as deceitful love
Of mercenary beauty would engage
The dotard fondness of decrepit age;
All these, that during Summer's halcyon days
With their green canopies conceal'd thy sprays,
Are gone for ever; or disfigured, trail
Their sallow relics in the Autumnal gale ”

“ And at night bring home wood for the hearth.
The bridge on the heath by the flood was wash'd down,
And fast, fast fell the sleet and the rain,
The stream to a wild rapid river was grown,
And long might the widow sit sighing alone
Ere sweet Phoebe could see her again.
At the town was a market—and now for supplies,
Such as needed her humble abode,
Young William went forth; and his mother with sighs
Watch'd long at the window, with tears in her eyes,
Till he turn'd thro' the fields, to the road.
Then darkness came on; and she heard with affright
The wind rise every moment more high ”

“ WHERE the wild woods and pathless forests frown,
The darkling Pilgrim seeks his unknown way,
Till on the grass he throws him weary down,
To wait in broken sleep the dawn of day:
Through boughs just waving in the silent air,
With pale capricious light the Summer Moon
Chequers his humid couch ”

“ Pity from that soft heart of thine.
Tho' far capricious Fortune flies,
Yet Love shall bless the sacrifice,
And all his purer joys combine;
While I my little world comprise
In that fair form, and fairer soul of thine. ”

“ Wing'd her weak feet; yet, half repenting now
Her headlong haste, she wishes she had staid
To die with those affrighted Fancy paints
The lawless soldiers' victims—Hark! again
The driving tempest bears the cry of Death;
And with deep, sudden thunder, the dread sound
Of cannon vibrates on the tremulous earth;
While, bursting in the air, the murderous bomb
Glares o'er her mansion—Where the splinters fall
Like scatter'd comets, its destructive path
Is mark'd by wreaths of flame!—Then, overwhelm'd
Beneath accumulated horror, sinks
The desolate mourner! ”

“ Gleams the wan Moon, by floating mist opprest;
Yet here while youth, and health, and labour sleep,
Alone I wander—Calm untroubled rest,
"Nature's soft nurse," deserts the sigh-swoln breast,
And shuns the eyes, that only make to weep! ”

“ That form, expressive of a soul divine,
So early blighted; and while life is mine,
With fond regret, and ceaseless grief deplored–
That grief, my angel! with too faithful art
Enshrines thy image in thy Mother's heart. ”

“ Taste all the sad vicissitudes of grief;
How many steep in tears their scanty bread;
Or, lost to reason, Sorrow's victims! rave:
How many know not where to lay their head;
While some are driven by anguish to the grave! ”

“ Harmonious, and of Love and Pleasure born,
Which from the golden furze, or flowering thorn
Awakes the Shepherd in the ides of May;
Nature delights me most when most she mourns,
For never more to me the Spring of Hope returns! ”

“ Restore they palsied Fancy, woe-deprest?
Check they the torpid influence of Despair,
Or bid warm Health re-animate the breast;
Where Hope's soft visions have no longer part,
And whose sad inmate is—a broken heart? ”

“ Smiles when she sees his little canvas handing,
And clasps her dripping lover on his landing.
More blest the Peasant, who, with nervous toil
Hews the rough oak, or breaks the stubborn soil:
Weary, indeed, he sees the evening come,
But then, the rude, yet tranquil hut, his home,
Receives its rustic inmate; then are his,
Secure repose, and dear domestic bliss! ”

“ On the broad ocean's restless wave,
Where this poor cold swoln form of mine
Shall shelter in its billowy grave,
Safe from the scorn the World's sad outcasts prove.
Unconscious of the pain of ill-requited Love. ”

“ And Melancholy's votaries that delight
To watch thee, gliding thro' the blue serene,
Now vainly seek thee on the brow of night—
Mild Sorrow, such as Hope has not forsook,
May love to muse beneath thy silent reign ”

“ Mark'd by the light surf on the level sand,
Or where afar the ship-lights faintly shine
Like wandering fairy fires, that oft on land
Mislead the Pilgrim——Such the dubious ray
That wavering Reason lends, in life's long darkling way. ”

“ Seems like a summons bidding me prepare
For the last sleep of death—Murmuring I hear
The hollow wind around the ancient towers,
While night and silence reign; and cold and drear
The darkest gloom of Middle Winter lours ”

“ His cottage thatch amid surrounding trees;
Yet, trembling, dreads lest sorrow or disease
Await him there, embittering his return:
But all he loves are safe; with heart elate,
Tho' poor and plunder'd, he absolves his fate! ”

“ Points out the long-sought haven to his sight.
Watching for thee, the lover's ardent eyes
Turn to the eastern hills; and as above
Thy brilliance trembles, hails the lights that rise
To guide his footsteps to expecting love! ”

“ GO now, ingenuous Youth!—The trying hour
Is come: The World demands that thou shouldst go
To active life: There titles, wealth, and power
May all be purchas'd—Yet I joy to know
Thou wilt not pay their price. ”

“ HE may be envied, who with tranquil breast
Can wander in the wild and woodland scene,
When Summer's glowing hands have newly drest
The shadowy forests, and the copses green;
Who, unpursued by care, can pass his hours
Where briony and woodbine fringe the trees,
On thymy banks reposing, while the bees
Murmur "their fairy tunes in praise of flowers;" ”

“ Buoyant, as Hope's illusive flattery breathes,
The young and visionary Poet leaves
Life's dull realities, while sevenfold wreaths
Of rainbow-light around his head revolve.
Ah! soon at Sorrow's touch the radiant dreams dissolve! ”

“ Which to bright Helen was in Egypt taught,
To mix with magic power the oblivious draught
Of force to staunch the bleeding of the heart,
And to Care's wan and hollow cheek impart
The smile of happy youth, uncursed with thought. ”

“ I see him more with envy than with fear;
He has no nice felicities that shrink
From giant horrors; wildly wandering here,
He seems (uncursed with reason) not to know
The depth or the duration of his woe. ”

“ But why awaken her to pain?
"Long since thy wandering Lover died,
"The moon returns in vain!
"Tho' with her wane, thy visions fade,
"Yet hopest thou, till again she shine?"
———The hopes of half the World, poor Maid!
Are not more rational than thine! ”

“ Veil'd in the gorgeous broidery of the skies,
Celestial lamp! thy influence bright and warm
That renovates the world with life and light
Shines not for me—for never more the form
I loved—so fondly loved, shall bless my sight ”

“ Of dwelling on the hours for ever fled,
And heartless, helpless, hopeless to deplore
"Pale misery living, joy and pleasure dead:"
While dragging thus unwish'd a length of days,
"Death seems prepared to strike, yet still delays." ”

“ And yet, where’er your pinions wave
O'er some lost friend's—some lover's grave,
Surviving sufferers still complain;
Some parent of his hopes deprived,
Some wretch who has himself survived,
⁠Lament in vain. ”

“ From my faint eyes thy graceful form recedes;
Thou canst not heal an heart like mine that bleeds;
But, when in quiet earth that heart shall rest,
Haply may'st thou one sorrowing vigil keep,
Where Pity and Remembrance bend and weep! ”

“ Scarce heeding whither, desolate I stray;
For me, pale Eye of Evening, thy soft light
Leads to no happy home; my weary way
Ends but in sad vicissitudes of care:
I only fly from doubt—to meet despair! ”

“ Death is no such formidable enemy, since a man has so many champions about him that can win the combat of him—Revenge triumphs over Death; Love slights it; Honour courts it; dread of Disgrace chooses it ”

“ Or mark, with raptured gaze, the sailing kite;
Or, eagerly pursuing Pleasure's call,
Can find it center'd in the bounding ball!
Alas! the day will come, when sports like these
Must lose their magic, and their power to please;
Too swiftly fled, the rosy hours of youth
Shall yield their fairy-charms to mournful Truth;
Even now, a mother's fond prophetic fear
Sees the dark train of human ills appear ”

“ Charged deep with death, upon the waves, far seen,
Move the war-freighted ships; and fierce and red,
Flash their destructive fires—The mangled dead
And dying victims then pollute the flood.
Ah, thus man spoils Heaven's glorious works with blood! ”

“ Pale Superstition sheds her influence drear,
And to my shuddering fancy would suggest
Thou com'st to speak of every woe I fear,
Ah! Reason little o'er the soul prevails,
When, from ideal ill, the enfeebled spirit fails! ”

“ Be turn'd from thee?—Ah! wherefore fears to die
He, who compell'd each poignant grief to know,
Drains to its lowest dregs the cup of woe?
Would Cowardice postpone thy calm embrace,
To linger out long years in torturing pain? ”

“ Nymphs lightly tread the bright reflecting sand,
And proud sails whiten all the summer bay:
Then, from these winds that whistle keen and bleak,
Music's delightful melodies shall float
O'er the blue waters ”

“ This wearied spirit tempest-tost;
The cares that weigh upon my breast
Are doubly felt since thou art lost.
Bright visions of ideal grace
That the young poet's dreams inflame,
Were not more lovely than thy face ”

“ Droops its meek head, and looks, methinks, like you!
Wrapp'd in a shadowy veil of tender green,
Its snowy bells a soft perfume dispense,
And bending as reluctant to be seen,
In simple loveliness it sooths the sense. ”

“ The cypress bud, and willow leaf,
Their pale funereal foliage blend with thine.
Hail, lovely blossom!—thou canst ease
The wretched victims of Disease;
Canst close those weary eyes in gentle sleep,
Which never open but to weep ”

“ And the crew sinks beneath the infuriate surge.
There find the weak an early grave,
While youthful strength the whelming wave
Repels; and labouring for the land,
With shorten'd breath and upturn'd eyes,
Sees the rough shore above him rise,
Nor dreams that rapine meets him on the strand. ”

“ And blushes in the glowing skies
When rosy Evening fades away.
II.
The Summer winds that gently blow,
The flocks that bleat along the glades,
The nightingale, that soft and low,
With music fills the listening shades ”

“ The almost imperceptible threads floating in the air, towards the end of Summer or Autumn, in a still evening, sometimes are so numerous as to be felt on the face and hands. It is on these that a minute species of spider convey themselves from place to place; sometimes rising with the wind to a great height in the air. ”

“ Compassion's balm upon my luckless head,
Benevolence, with warm and glowing breast,
And soft, celestial mercy, doubly blest!
Smile on the generous act!—where means are given,
To aid the wretched is—to merit Heaven. ”

“ GREEN o'er the copses Spring's soft hues are spreading,
High wave the Reeds in the transparent floods,
The Oak its sear and sallow foliage shedding,
From their moss'd cradles start its infant buds. ”

“ The grateful Servant, and the humble friend,
Where strict integrity and worth unite
To raise the lowly in their Maker's sight,
Are her's; whose faithful service, long approved,
Wept by the Mistress whom thro' life she loved. ”

“ Form the first simple garland—Now no more
Escaping for a moment all my cares,
Shall I, with pensive, silent step, explore
The woods yet leafless; where to chilling airs
Your green and pencil'd blossoms, trembling, wave. ”

“ CHAPEL, DURING A TEMPEST.
SWIFT fleet the billowy clouds along the sky,
Earth seems to shudder at the storm aghast;
While only beings as forlorn as I,
Court the chill horrors of the howling blast. ”

“ Fall fresh and noiseless; while at closing day
The low Sun gleams on moist and half-blown flowers,
That promise garlands for approaching May.
Bless'd are yon peasant children, simply singing,
Who through the new-sprung grass rejoicing rove ”

“ The wretch who living knew not where to rest.
Rejoice, that tho' an outcast spurn'd by Fate,
Thro' penury's rugged path his race he ran;
In earth's cold bosom, equall'd with the great,
Death vindicates the insulted rights of Man. ”