William Anderson

“ Of the lone valley, where the breezes sing
Of love, beside the violet-crested spring,
And heather-bell's perfume:
And beauty, without guile,
It pictures dreams of in the bounding breast,
And love-breathed vows, and unions that are blest,
And childhood's fairy smile:
The mountain's verdant side,
Where visioned poesy delights to show
The sights of Heaven to gentle minds below:
The heath-bank in its pride:
The broken branch, grass-hid,
On which the goat-herd leans, while, far aloof,
His bounding charge rest th' adventurous hoof
Where man's foot dare not tread ”

“ Dies wildly on the tempest, and the spray
Dashes around us, chilling hope to stone;
And vast and fathomless the mountain waves,
Yawning around us, marshall forth our graves.
The clouds move like the billows o'er the ocean,
Clashing in fury as they hurry by;
They mingle fiercely, and in rude commotion,
As if a hurricane swept o'er the sky. [72]
Now, let the soul rely on her devotion,
Now, let the prayer to Him be lifted high,
Who stills the storm, and calms the mighty wave,
"And strong to smite, is also strong to save." ”

“ At this lone hour we seek
Some quiet spot, to meditation free;—
When the Material we do not see,
Then Fancy may bespeak
Aught that she will;—the dim
And shadowy her peopled world, she finds
Forms in the darkness;—in the troublous winds
Can trace a conqueror's hymn!
Sleep has its dreams, and night
Its inspirations,—bounding, changing still,—
Imagination on some shrouded hill
Does, eagle-like, alight. [42]
Ah! not an hour ago
Here hamlets stood, and palaces, and fields:
What man has furnished, what creation yields,
And what the earth does grow:
And now, where are they all? ”

“ Like memory of friends gone far away,
Or, haply, ceased to be.
Together we'll commune,
As lovers do, when, standing all apart,
No one o'erhears the whispers of their heart,
Save the all-silent moon.
Thy thoughts I can divine,
Although not uttered in vernac'lar words:
Thou me remind'st of songs of forest birds;
Of venerable wine; [21]
Of Earth's fresh shrubs and roots;
Of Summer days, when men their thirsting slake
In the cool fountain, or the cooler lake,
While eating wood-grown fruits ”

“ With golden light that downward interweaves,
Past branch and stem finding itself a way;
And on the greensward, and among the fern,
Some trace of sunshine still we can discern,
A sunbeam's scattered droppings gone astray
Among the wild-flowers, where they nestle close
Within the long grass, or the woodland moss,
Making for Earth a dress with colours gay.
Oh! on our pathway thus may sunshine fall,
And like the little flowers, our hopes still bloom,—
A share of it at least, if not it all,—
To light the darkness and to cheer the gloom. ”

“ Forth marches Sunshine gorgeously through earth,
By health attended, and life-giving mirth,
And heralded by Spring.
Light through the untrack'd air,
Pursues its course authentic; hill and dale
Rejoice, and Nature cries, "All hail!"
As if a king were there. [14]
The elevated lawns,
Where first the day comes, and where last retires,
Rejoicing seem; their light the mind inspires,
And thought, like morning, dawns.
The wild, yet artless breeze,
Now, in the ear of Nature, sings its song,
Wandering green fields and flowery banks among,
And over shadowy seas. ”

“ Old beech-tree, lightning-smote, and dead,—
Its branches bare, and bleached, and lonely,
An eagle built its nest amid.
Forsook the mountain's summit hoary,
The beetling cliff above the sea,
Sought not the forests of Missouri,
But sheltered on this shattered tree. [169]
And oft to see this noble creature,
Many there came from parts thereby,
Training its young, as is its nature,
To spread their wings and upward fly. ”

“ When the sun's on the hill, and all nature is still,
Save the sound of the far-dashing sea.
For I love to lie lone on the hill, the hill,
I love to lie lone on the hill,
When earth, sea, and sky, in loveliness vie,
And all nature around me is still.
Then my fancy is ever awake, awake,
My fancy is never asleep;
Like a bird on the wing, like a swan on the lake,
Like a ship far away on the deep. ”

“ A meteor gleaming o'er a desert heath—
So seldom comes thy smile to cheer our life,
We learn to hope 'twill visit us in death;
In what bright bower, supremest blessing, may
A mortal find thy never-dying ray?
[82]
THOUGHTS.
In sooth 'tis pleasant on a summer morn,
When the bright sun ascends the orient sky,
And on the mountain zephyr health is borne,
While we inhale it as it murmurs by;
On some lone hill in musing mood to lie,
Then as we watch the day's advancing light,
We learn from it that we but live to die. ”

“ The golden-tissued clouds,
Amid which now the Sun, world-worshipped, sinks,
Retain his glory still upon their brinks,
As gloom the earth enshrouds!
Slowly the darkness creeps
Up the lone hill-sides, shadow-like, by sighs
Of ev'ning lullabyed, as on man's eyes
Steals slumber ere he sleeps!
Thus on the mountain-oak,
And on the hoary castle's ruined walls,
The rotting ivy, clinging as it falls,
Seems their past strength to mock. [39]
Exalted are the thoughts
That rise within our souls at such a time ”

“ Oh! lovely as the golden ray
Of sunshine sleeping on the glade,
When morning brightens into day,
And in its radiance melts the shade;
And lovelier than that gorgeous sun,
May be the smile from woman won.
But beauty does not deign to shine,
In brightness from a woman's eye;
Nor does she in a smile recline,
Blooming, as flowerets do, to die;
All earth-born charms shall fade in death:
Nor change nor ruin beauty hath. ”

“ As one for earth too good: [18]
The dim-seen paths remote,
That lead to lone retreats and leafy cells,
Where, like a bashful fay, the fancy dwells,
And many-imaged thought:
The vintage and its cheer,
The peasant, sun-embrown'd, and flow'r-deck'd maid,
The festooned village, music in the shade,
To charm th' expectant ear:
The flow'ret in the wild,
The mossy resting place, 'neath oaks antique:
The half-grassed foot-track worldlings do not seek,
Where poets are beguiled:
The foam-bell on the wave ”

“ Or the clouds driven by the breeze
Floating everywhere.
[223]
LIGHT AND SHADOW.
Shine down, fair sun, on vale and hill,
And light each height and hollow;—
No shade rests in the air, but still
On earth the shadows follow.
Grow green, old trees, where'er you may
Your festival be keeping;—
On branch and stem, on leaf and spray,
Decay is slowly creeping.
Bloom bright, fair flowers, in wild or mead,
Around you all perfuming;—
The blight that mingles with each seed,
The blossom is consuming. ”

“ Thrown o'er the guilty ones of earth, Heaven's ire
Who braved ere-while.—How fearful, how sublime,
How terrible the sight!—widely they climb,
To rock and mountain top to 'scape their doom,
While rushing torrents, dome and palace hall,
The work of man with man himself, consume;
Nor these alone! Rock, cliff, and mountain grey,
God's handiwork, become with man, their prey! ”

“ Are his, and all things that the earth contains,
And all above, through the Redeemer's pains,
And groans, and victory o'er death!
Glory to Him who willed
That man should live, not die! to Him who made
The Sabbath for our comfort, and who said
The soul on Christ its hopes should build!
[134]
SABBATH EVE.
On Sabbath eve, how sad,
Yet sweet, the thoughts that come into the mind,
Unbid, but not unwelcome, and which find
Communion there, and to its solace add.
The world seems bright no more;
Its witching charms are gone, its voice is dumb:
Vainly its pleasures to the soul say "Come!" ”

“ And what a prize to gain,
Most valued when the spirit woos
Its coming back again.
After long days and restless nights,
Reclined on weary bed,
How sweet when first its blessing lights
Upon the aching head.
Its coming turns the life, as doth
The ocean with its tide,
Or as the spring renews the growth
Of what Earth's stores provide. [234]
Power, fame, and with them cherished gold,
That form man's constant aim,
All would be gladly overtold
Its halcyon bliss to claim. ”

“ To my o'erchargëd heart—there is a breeze
Moving amid the foliage, soft and low,
As cradled murmur from a babe asleep.
It is a time for holy thoughts to spring,
And contemplation fill the awakened mind.
Lo! a bright sunbeam stands 'tween heaven and earth,
Taking its farewell look ere day departs, [183]
And seeking still to light the gloom below,
As Hope,—even when the darkness comes, and Joy
Hath fled,—to cheer the heart, still lingering, smiles:
And when it goes,—ah! no, it ne'er all goes:—
The sunbeam fades, a moment, and its light,
All shed, dies still-born, swiftly shone and o'er ”

“ And the more sad, the sweeter, as is meet
The spirit lone to cheer.
Fair is the sky, and fair
The earth; and yet 'tis but the moon, this night,
That lights them both, and makes them look so bright,—
Clothes them in beauty rare! ”

“ Now thy sword is at rest, and thy harp is laid by,
But the sword of the Spirit still waves from on high,
And the harp of the Lord sounds in majesty forth,
As of yore it was heard from the lands of the north.
Again, oh, my country! on thy hills of renown,
Oppression, relentless, has darkly come down—
On the breeze of the mountain is borne the loud wail,
And the lowlands reply to the wrongs of the Gael. ”

“ From every clift, and crag, and ledge, and linn,
The notes of worship and of praise begin.
"Praise God the Lord!" the echoes catch the strain,
And far and near repeat the sound again;
They wake it in the wild and in the wood,
Through all the shades of that far solitude: [56]
Bearing it on, o'er valley and ravine,
Where, till this hour, such sound has never been;
Then, in the distance, fainter grown the lay,
The lingering notes at length dissolve away.
When all is silent, on the mountain sod
The humble shepherds bend the knee to God ”

“ You'll prize it more, I dare to say,
Than any such premising.
The sun was shining on the hills,
The countryside looked sweeter,
And brighter and more beautiful
Than I can tell in metre.
It was the spring-time of the year,
That pleasant balmy season,
When freshness passes o'er the earth,
And come the buds the trees on.
When Nature young looks, and is young,
But though she dresses gaily,
The time grows old, for Time, like man,
Grows older daily, daily! [199]
Ah me! ”

“ And man becomes the nothing that he must,
How puny then will to the soul appear
All that man toils and struggles for when here!
Bound to the narrow aims and views of Earth,
At death his spirit finds that all is dearth
That to this world relates, and well that he
Makes Time provide still for Eternity. ”

“ Their temple is the mountain and the mist,
And theirs the shrine where minister the blest;
They kneel before the Spirit of the world,
He who this universe of mountains hurled
Together with a word, and chaos spread
Mid majesty and grandeur, dark and dread.
Prostrate in presence of the Great First Cause,
They own his power, while they obey his laws:
Their thoughts are deeper than th' abyss beneath,
Yet while their humble orisons they breathe,
Their souls are soaring far beyond each height
On which the stars are clustering, with the night ”

“ Nor man man's inhumanity deplore,
All strife shall cease and war shall be unknown,
And the world's golden age return once more.
And nations now that, with Oppression's hand,
Are to the dust of Earth with sorrow bowed,
Shall then erect, in fearless vigour, stand,
And with recovered freedom shout aloud.
Along with Truth, Wisdom, her sister-twin,
Shall come—they two are never far apart,—
At their approach, to some lone cavern Sin
Shall cowering flee, as stricken to the heart.
Right shall then temper Justice, as 'tis meet
It should, and Justice give to Right its own ”

“ Can fancy, eagle-winged, restrain its flight,
To dream of winter drear? [28]
In noonday's warmest ray
We deem that darkness has our clime forsook:
Backward or forward we refuse to look;
But on the present stay.
Yet let not gloom be here!
The Earth rejoices now in Nature's prime ”

“ Undismayed by the tempest's fury, or, rather rejoicing in its violence, the small but spirited songster warbles on unceasingly, as if desirous of emulating the loudness of the thunder-tone, or of making his song be heard above the noise of the raging elements.
The poetry of nature, particularly at this joyous season, is in its landscapes; and if these unpretending "Lyrics" should lead any one to a healthy contemplation of natural objects, or impart, to refined minds, any pleasure in the perusal, the time which has been bestowed upon them will not have been idly or unprofitably employed. ”

“ As if a part of memory, pilgrim-like,
Had gone in quest of all, and died away
Amid the distant traces of the past.
The gentle breeze comes from its groves of spice,
And fragrance bears throughout the Virgin air;
And hark! the woodland music—warblings soft
Steal on the gladdened ear—from every hedge,
From every forest dim, a voice proceeds
Of deep-felt rapture, praise and gratitude.
The swan disports upon the quiet lake,
And shares the cheerfulness that all enjoy ”

“ It is the Alpine wolf's terrific bay,
Roaming abroad ferocious for its prey:
Soon as the sun of earth its farewell takes,
The Alpine wolf his solitude forsakes,
And, like a demon, rushing to the plain,
Scatters the flock, and panic-strikes the swain. ”

“ Where solitude gives birth to thought,
And thought is born of thought again;
Visions of earth, the pure and bright,
As poet only hath divined,
When high-toned genius pours her light,
Upon the rapt and feeling mind. ”