[ { "title": "The Triumph Of Woman", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Glad as the weary traveller tempest-tost", "To reach secure at length his native coast,", "Who wandering long o'er distant lands has sped,", "The night-blast wildly howling round his head,", "Known all the woes of want, and felt the storm", "Of the bleak winter parch his shivering form;", "The journey o'er and every peril past", "Beholds his little cottage-home at last,", "And as he sees afar the smoke curl slow,", "Feels his full eyes with transport overflow:", "So from the scene where Death and Anguish reign,", "And Vice and Folly drench with blood the plain,", "Joyful I turn, to sing how Woman's praise", "Avail'd again Jerusalem to raise,", "Call'd forth the sanction of the Despot's nod,", "And freed the nation best-belov'd of God.", "", "Darius gives the feast: to Persia's court,", "Awed by his will, the obedient throng resort,", "Attending Satraps swell the Prince's pride,", "And vanquish'd Monarchs grace their Conqueror's side.", "No more the Warrior wears the garb of war,", "Sharps the strong steel, or mounts the scythed car;", "No more Judaea's sons dejected go,", "And hang the head and heave the sigh of woe.", "From Persia's rugged hills descend the train.", "From where Orontes foams along the plain,", "From where Choaspes rolls his royal waves,", "And India sends her sons, submissive slaves.", "Thy daughters Babylon to grace the feast", "Weave the loose robe, and paint the flowery vest,", "With roseate wreaths they braid the glossy hair.", "They tinge the cheek which Nature form'd so fair,", "Learn the soft step, the soul-subduing glance,", "Melt in the song, and swim adown the dance.", "Exalted on the Monarch's golden throne", "In royal state the fair Apame shone;", "", "Her form of majesty, her eyes of fire", "Chill with respect, or kindle with desire.", "The admiring multitude her charms adore,", "And own her worthy of the crown she wore.", "", "Now on his couch reclin'd Darius lay,", "Tir'd with the toilsome pleasures of the day;", "Without Judaea's watchful sons await", "To guard the sleeping pageant of the state.", "Three youths were these of Judah's royal race,", "Three youths whom Nature dower'd with every grace,", "To each the form of symmetry she gave,", "And haughty Genius curs'd each favorite slave;", "These fill'd the cup, around the Monarch kept,", "Serv'd as he spake, and guarded whilst he slept.", "", "Yet oft for Salem's hallowed towers laid low", "The sigh would heave, the unbidden tear would flow;", "And when the dull and wearying round of Power", "Allowed Zorobabel one vacant hour,", "He lov'd on Babylon's high wall to roam,", "And stretch the gaze towards his distant home,", "Or on Euphrates' willowy banks reclin'd", "Hear the sad harp moan fitful to the wind.", "", "As now the perfum'd lamps stream wide their light,", "And social converse chears the livelong night,", "Thus spake Zorobabel, \"too long in vain", "\"For Sion desolate her sons complain;", "\"In anguish worn the joyless years lag slow,", "\"And these proud conquerors mock their captive's woe.", "\"Whilst Cyrus triumph'd here in victor state", "\"A brighter prospect chear'd our exil'd fate,", "\"Our sacred walls again he bade us raise,", "\"And to Jehovah rear the pile of praise.", "\"Quickly these fond hopes faded from our eyes,", "\"As the frail sun that gilds the wintry skies,", "\"And spreads a moment's radiance o'er the plain,", "\"Soon hid by clouds that dim the scene again.", "", "\"Opprest by Artaxerxes' jealous reign", "\"We vainly pleaded here, and wept in vain.", "\"Now when Darius, chief of mild command,", "\"Bids joy and pleasure fill the festive land,", "\"Still shall we droop the head in sullen grief,", "\"And sternly silent shun to seek relief?", "\"What if amid the Monarch's mirthful throng", "\"Our harps should echo to the chearful song?", "", "\"Fair is the occasion,\" thus the one replied,", "\"And now let all our tuneful skill be tried.", "\"Whilst the gay courtiers quaff the smiling bowl,", "\"And wine's strong fumes inspire the madden'd soul,", "\"Where all around is merriment, be mine", "\"To strike the lute, and praise the power of Wine.", "", "\"And whilst\" his friend replied in state alone", "\"Lord of the earth Darius fills the throne,", "\"Be yours the mighty power of Wine to sing,", "\"My lute shall sound the praise of Persia's King.\"", "", "To them Zorobabel, on themes like these", "\"Seek ye the Monarch of Mankind to please;", "\"To Wine superior or to Power's strong arms,", "\"Be mine to sing resistless Woman's charms.", "\"To him victorious in the rival lays", "\"Shall just Darius give the meed of praise;", "\"The purple robe his honor'd frame shall fold,", "\"The beverage sparkle in his cup of gold;", "\"A golden couch support his bed of rest,", "\"The chain of honor grace his favor'd breast;", "\"His the soft turban, his the car's array", "\"O'er Babylon's high wall to wheel its way;", "\"And for his wisdom seated on the throne,", "\"For the KING'S COUSIN shall the Bard be known.\"", "", "Intent they meditate the future lay,", "And watch impatient for the dawn of day.", "The morn rose clear, and shrill were heard the flute,", "The cornet, sackbut, dulcimer, and lute;", "To Babylon's gay streets the throng resort,", "Swarm thro' the gates, and fill the festive court.", "High on his throne Darius tower'd in pride,", "The fair Apame grac'd the Sovereign's side;", "And now she smil'd, and now with mimic frown", "Placed on her brow the Monarch's sacred crown.", "In transport o'er her faultless form he bends,", "Loves every look, and every act commends.", "", "And now Darius bids the herald call", "Judaea's Bard to grace the thronging hall.", "Hush'd is each sound--the attending crowd are mute,", "The Hebrew lightly strikes the chearful lute:", "", "When the Traveller on his way,", "Who has toil'd the livelong day,", "Feels around on every side", "The chilly mists of eventide,", "Fatigued and faint his wearied mind", "Recurs to all he leaves behind;", "He thinks upon the well-trimm'd hearth,", "The evening hour of social mirth,", "And her who at departing day", "Weeps for her husband far away.", "Oh give to him the flowing bowl,", "Bid it renovate his soul;", "Then shall sorrow sink to sleep,", "And he who wept, no more shall weep;", "For his care-clouded brow shall clear,", "And his glad eye shall sparkle thro' the tear.", "", "When the poor man heart-opprest", "Betakes him to his evening rest,", "And worn with labour thinks in sorrow", "Of the labor of to-morrow;", "When sadly musing on his lot", "He hies him to his joyless cot,", "And loathes to meet his children there,", "The rivals for his scanty fare:", "Oh give to him the flowing bowl,", "Bid it renovate his soul;", "The generous juice with magic power", "Shall cheat with happiness the hour,", "And with each warm affection fill", "The heart by want and wretchedness made chill.", "", "When, at the dim close of day,", "The Captive loves alone to stray", "Along the haunts recluse and rude", "Of sorrow and of solitude;", "When he sits with moveless eye", "To mark the lingering radiance die,", "And lets distemper'd Fancy roam", "Amid the ruins of his home,--", "Oh give to him the flowing bowl,", "Bid it renovate his soul;", "The bowl shall better thoughts bestow,", "And lull to rest his wakeful woe,", "And Joy shall bless the evening hour,", "And make the Captive Fortune's conqueror.", "", "When the wearying cares of state", "Oppress the Monarch with their weight,", "When from his pomp retir'd alone", "He feels the duties of the throne,", "Feels that the multitude below", "Depend on him for weal or woe;", "When his powerful will may bless", "A realm with peace and happiness,", "Or with desolating breath", "Breathe ruin round, and woe, and death:", "Oh give to him the flowing bowl,", "Bid it humanize his soul;", "He shall not feel the empire's weight,", "He shall not feel the cares of state,", "The bowl shall each dark thought beguile,", "And Nations live and prosper from his smile.", "", "Husht was the lute, the Hebrew ceas'd the song;", "Long peals of plaudits echoed from the throng;", "Each tongue the liberal words of praise repaid,", "On every cheek a smile applauding play'd;", "The rival Bard advanced, he struck the string,", "And pour'd the loftier song to Persia's King.", "", "Why should the wearying cares of state", "Oppress the Monarch with their weight?", "Alike to him if Peace shall bless", "The multitude with happiness;", "Alike to him if frenzied War", "Careers triumphant on the embattled plain,", "And rolling on o'er myriads slain,", "With gore and wounds shall clog his scythed car.", "What tho' the tempest rage! no sound", "Of the deep thunder shakes his distant throne,", "And the red flash that spreads destruction round,", "Reflects a glorious splendour on the Crown.", "", "Where is the Man who with ennobling pride", "Beholds not his own nature? where is he", "Who but with deep amazement awe allied", "Must muse the mysteries of the human mind,", "The miniature of Deity.", "For Man the vernal clouds descending", "Shower down their fertilizing rain,", "For Man the ripen'd harvest bending", "Waves with soft murmur o'er the plenteous plain.", "He spreads the sail on high,", "The rude gale wafts him o'er the main;", "For him the winds of Heaven subservient blow,", "Earth teems for him, for him the waters flow,", "He thinks, and wills, and acts, a Deity below!", "", "Where is the King who with elating pride", "Sees not this Man--this godlike Man his Slave?", "Mean are the mighty by the Monarch's side,", "Alike the wife, alike the brave", "With timid step and pale, advance,", "And tremble at the royal glance;", "Suspended millions watch his breath", "Whose smile is happiness, whose frown is death.", "", "Why goes the Peasant from that little cot,", "Where PEACE and LOVE have blest his humble life?", "In vain his agonizing wife", "With tears bedews her husband's face,", "And clasps him in a long and last embrace;", "In vain his children round his bosom creep,", "And weep to see their mother weep,", "Fettering their father with their little arms;", "What are to him the wars alarms?", "What are to him the distant foes?", "He at the earliest dawn of day", "To daily labor went his way;", "And when he saw the sun decline,", "He sat in peace beneath his vine:--", "The king commands, the peasant goes,", "From all he lov'd on earth he flies,", "And for his monarch toils, and fights, and bleeds, and dies.", "", "What tho' yon City's castled wall", "Casts o'er the darken'd plain its crested shade?", "What tho' their Priests in earnest terror call", "On all their host of Gods to aid?", "Vain is the bulwark, vain the tower;", "In vain her gallant youths expose", "Their breasts, a bulwark, to the foes.", "In vain at that tremendous hour,", "Clasp'd in the savage soldier's reeking arms,", "Shrieks to tame Heaven the violated Maid.", "By the rude hand of Ruin scatter'd round", "Their moss-grown towers shall spread the desart ground.", "Low shall the mouldering palace lie,", "Amid the princely halls the grass wave high,", "And thro' the shatter'd roof descend the inclement sky.", "", "Gay o'er the embattled plain", "Moves yonder warrior train,", "Their banners wanton on the morning gale!", "Full on their bucklers beams the rising ray,", "Their glittering helmets flash a brighter day,", "The shout of war rings echoing o'er the vale:", "Far reaches as the aching eye can strain", "The splendid horror of their wide array.", "Ah! not in vain expectant, o'er", "Their glorious pomp the Vultures soar!", "Amid the Conqueror's palace high", "Shall sound the song of victory:", "Long after journeying o'er the plain", "The Traveller shall with startled eye", "See their white bones then blanched by many a winter sky.", "", "Lord of the Earth! we will not raise", "The Temple to thy bounded praise.", "For thee no victim need expire,", "For thee no altar blaze with hallowed fire!", "The burning city flames for thee--", "Thine altar is the field of victory!", "Thy sacred Majesty to bless", "Man a self-offer'd victim freely flies;", "To thee he sacrifices Happiness,", "And Peace, and Love's endearing ties,", "To thee a Slave he lives, to thee a Slave he dies.", "", "", "Husht was the lute, the Hebrew ceas'd to sing;", "The shout rush'd forth--for ever live the King!", "Loud was the uproar, as when Rome's decree", "Pronounc'd Achaia once again was free;", "Assembled Greece enrapt with fond belief", "Heard the false boon, and bless'd the villain Chief;", "Each breast with Freedom's holy ardor glows,", "From every voice the cry of rapture rose;", "Their thundering clamors burst the astonish'd sky,", "And birds o'erpassing hear, and drop, and die.", "Thus o'er the Persian dome their plaudits ring,", "And the high hall re-echoed--live the King!", "The Mutes bow'd reverent down before their Lord,", "The assembled Satraps envied and ador'd,", "Joy sparkled in the Monarch's conscious eyes,", "And his pleas'd pride already doom'd the prize.", "", "Silent they saw Zorobabel advance:", "Quick on Apame shot his timid glance,", "With downward eye he paus'd a moment mute,", "And with light finger touch'd the softer lute.", "Apame knew the Hebrew's grateful cause,", "And bent her head and sweetly smil'd applause.", "", "Why is the Warrior's cheek so red?", "Why downward droops his musing head?", "Why that slow step, that faint advance,", "That keen yet quick-retreating glance?", "That crested head in war tower'd high,", "No backward glance disgrac'd that eye,", "No flushing fear that cheek o'erspread", "When stern he strode o'er heaps of dead;", "Strange tumult now his bosom moves--", "The Warrior fears because he loves.", "", "Why does the Youth delight to rove", "Amid the dark and lonely grove?", "Why in the throng where all are gay,", "His wandering eye with meaning fraught,", "Sits he alone in silent thought?", "Silent he sits; for far away", "His passion'd soul delights to stray;", "Recluse he roves and strives to shun", "All human-kind because he loves but One!", "", "Yes, King of Persia, thou art blest;", "But not because the sparkling bowl", "To rapture lifts thy waken'd soul", "But not because of Power possest,", "Not that the Nations dread thy nod,", "And Princes reverence thee their earthly God,", "Even on a Monarch's solitude", "Care the black Spectre will intrude,", "The bowl brief pleasure can bestow,", "The Purple cannot shield from Woe.", "But King of Persia thou art blest,", "For Heaven who rais'd thee thus the world above", "Has made thee happy in Apame's love!", "", "Oh! I have seen his fond looks trace", "Each angel feature of her face,", "Rove o'er her form with eager eye,", "And sigh and gaze, and gaze and sigh.", "Lo! from his brow with mimic frown,", "Apame takes the sacred crown;", "Her faultless form, her lovely face", "Add to the diadem new grace", "And subject to a Woman's laws", "Darius sees and smiles applause!", "", "He ceas'd, and silent still remain'd the throng", "Whilst rapt attention own'd the power of song.", "Then loud as when the wintry whirlwinds blow", "From ev'ry voice the thundering plaudits flow;", "Darius smil'd, Apame's sparkling eyes", "Glanc'd on the King, and Woman won the prize.", "", "Now silent sat the expectant crowd, alone", "The victor Hebrew gaz'd not on the throne;", "With deeper hue his cheek distemper'd glows,", "With statelier stature, loftier now he rose;", "Heavenward he gaz'd, regardless of the throng,", "And pour'd with awful voice sublimer song.", "", "Ancient of Days! Eternal Truth! one hymn", "One holier strain the Bard shall raise to thee,", "Thee Powerful! Thee Benevolent! Thee Just!", "Friend! Father! All in All! the Vines rich blood,", "The Monarch's might, and Woman's conquering charms,--", "These shall we praise alone? Oh ye who sit", "Beneath your vine, and quaff at evening hour", "The healthful bowl, remember him whose dews,", "Whose rains, whose sun, matur'd the growing fruit,", "Creator and Preserver! Reverence Him,", "O thou who from thy throne dispensest life", "And death, for He has delegated power.", "And thou shalt one day at the throne of God", "Render most strict account! O ye who gaze", "Enrapt on Beauty's fascinating form,", "Gaze on with love, and loving Beauty, learn", "To shun abhorrent all the mental eye", "Beholds deform'd and foul; for so shall Love", "Climb to the Source of Virtue. God of Truth!", "All-Just! All-Mighty! I should ill deserve", "Thy noblest gift, the gift divine of song,", "If, so content with ear-deep melodies", "To please all profitless, I did not pour", "Severer strains; of Truth--eternal Truth,", "Unchanging Justice, universal Love.", "Such strains awake the soul to loftiest thoughts,", "Such strains the Blessed Spirits of the Good", "Waft, grateful incense, to the Halls of Heaven.", "", "The dying notes still murmur'd on the string,", "When from his throne arose the raptur'd King.", "About to speak he stood, and wav'd his hand,", "And all expectant sat the obedient band.", "", "Then just and gen'rous, thus the Monarch cries,", "\"Be thine Zorobabel the well earned prize.", "\"The purple robe of state thy form shall fold,", "\"The beverage sparkle in thy cup of gold;", "\"The golden couch, the car, and honor'd chain,", "\"Requite the merits of thy favor'd strain,", "\"And rais'd supreme the ennobled race among", "\"Be call'd MY COUSIN for the victor song.", "\"Nor these alone the victor song shall bless,", "\"Ask what thou wilt, and what thou wilt, possess.\"", "\"Fall'n is Jerusalem!\" the Hebrew cries.", "And patriot anguish fills his streaming eyes,", "\"Hurl'd to the earth by Rapine's vengeful rod,", "\"Polluted lies the temple of our God,", "\"Far in a foreign land her sons remain,", "\"Hear the keen taunt, and drag the captive chain:", "\"In fruitless woe they wear the wearying years,", "\"And steep the bread of bitterness in tears.", "\"O Monarch, greatest, mildest, best of men,", "\"Restore us to those ruin'd walls again!", "\"Allow our race to rear that sacred dome,", "\"To live in liberty, and die at Home.\"", "", "So spake Zorobabel--thus Woman's praise", "Avail'd again Jerusalem to raise,", "Call'd forth the sanction of the Despot's nod,", "And freed the Nation best belov'd of God." ], "linecount": "412" }, { "title": "Rudiger - A Ballad", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Author Note: Divers Princes and Noblemen being assembled in a beautiful and fair", "Palace, which was situate upon the river Rhine, they beheld a boat or", "small barge make toward the shore, drawn by a Swan in a silver chain,", "the one end fastened about her neck, the other to the vessel; and in it", "an unknown soldier, a man of a comely personage and graceful presence,", "who stept upon the shore; which done, the boat guided by the Swan left", "him, and floated down the river. This man fell afterward in league with", "a fair gentlewoman, married her, and by her had many children. After", "some years, the same Swan came with the same barge into the same place;", "the soldier entering into it, was carried thence the way he came, left", "wife, children and family, and was never seen amongst them after.", "", "Now who can judge this to be other than one of those spirits that are", "named Incubi? says Thomas Heywood. I have adopted his story, but not his", "solution, making the unknown soldier not an evil spirit, but one who had", "purchased happiness of a malevolent being, by the promised sacrifice of", "his first-born child.", "", ".................", "", "Bright on the mountain's heathy slope", "The day's last splendors shine", "And rich with many a radiant hue", "Gleam gayly on the Rhine.", "", "And many a one from Waldhurst's walls", "Along the river stroll'd,", "As ruffling o'er the pleasant stream", "The evening gales came cold.", "", "So as they stray'd a swan they saw", "Sail stately up and strong,", "And by a silver chain she drew", "A little boat along,", "", "Whose streamer to the gentle breeze", "Long floating fluttered light,", "Beneath whose crimson canopy", "There lay reclin'd a knight.", "", "With arching crest and swelling breast", "On sail'd the stately swan", "And lightly up the parting tide", "The little boat came on.", "", "And onward to the shore they drew", "And leapt to land the knight,", "And down the stream the swan-drawn boat", "Fell soon beyond the sight.", "", "Was never a Maid in Waldhurst's walls", "Might match with Margaret,", "Her cheek was fair, her eyes were dark,", "Her silken locks like jet.", "", "And many a rich and noble youth", "Had strove to win the fair,", "But never a rich or noble youth", "Could rival Rudiger.", "", "At every tilt and turney he", "Still bore away the prize,", "For knightly feats superior still", "And knightly courtesies.", "", "His gallant feats, his looks, his love,", "Soon won the willing fair,", "And soon did Margaret become", "The wife of Rudiger.", "", "Like morning dreams of happiness", "Fast roll'd the months away,", "For he was kind and she was kind", "And who so blest as they?", "", "Yet Rudiger would sometimes sit", "Absorb'd in silent thought", "And his dark downward eye would seem", "With anxious meaning fraught;", "", "But soon he rais'd his looks again", "And smil'd his cares eway,", "And mid the hall of gaiety", "Was none like him so gay.", "", "And onward roll'd the waining months,", "The hour appointed came,", "And Margaret her Rudiger", "Hail'd with a father's name.", "", "But silently did Rudiger", "The little infant see,", "And darkly on the babe he gaz'd", "And very sad was he.", "", "And when to bless the little babe", "The holy Father came,", "To cleanse the stains of sin away", "In Christ's redeeming name,", "", "Then did the cheek of Rudiger", "Assume a death-pale hue,", "And on his clammy forehead stood", "The cold convulsive dew;", "", "And faltering in his speech he bade", "The Priest the rites delay,", "Till he could, to right health restor'd,", "Enjoy the festive day.", "", "When o'er the many-tinted sky", "He saw the day decline,", "He called upon his Margaret", "To walk beside the Rhine.", "", "\"And we will take the little babe,", "\"For soft the breeze that blows,", "\"And the wild murmurs of the stream", "\"Will lull him to repose.\"", "", "So forth together did they go,", "The evening breeze was mild,", "And Rudiger upon his arm", "Did pillow the sweet child.", "", "And many a one from Waldhurst's walls", "Along the banks did roam,", "But soon the evening wind came cold,", "And all betook them home.", "", "Yet Rudiger in silent mood", "Along the banks would roam,", "Nor aught could Margaret prevail", "To turn his footsteps home.", "", "\"Oh turn thee--turn thee Rudiger,", "\"The rising mists behold,", "\"The evening wind is damp and chill,", "\"The little babe is cold!\"", "", "\"Now hush thee--hush thee Margaret,", "\"The mists will do no harm,", "\"And from the wind the little babe", "\"Lies sheltered on my arm.\"", "", "\"Oh turn thee--turn thee Rudiger,", "\"Why onward wilt thou roam?", "\"The moon is up, the night is cold,", "\"And we are far from home.\"", "", "He answered not, for now he saw", "A Swan come sailing strong,", "And by a silver chain she drew", "A little boat along.", "", "To shore they came, and to the boat", "Fast leapt he with the child,", "And in leapt Margaret--breathless now", "And pale with fear and wild.", "", "With arching crest and swelling breast", "On sail'd the stately swan,", "And lightly down the rapid tide", "The little boat went on.", "", "The full-orb'd moon that beam'd around", "Pale splendor thro' the night,", "Cast through the crimson canopy", "A dim-discoloured light.", "", "And swiftly down the hurrying stream", "In silence still they sail,", "And the long streamer fluttering fast", "Flapp'd to the heavy gale.", "", "And he was mute in sullen thought", "And she was mute with fear,", "Nor sound but of the parting tide", "Broke on the listening ear.", "", "The little babe began to cry", "And waked his mother's care,", "\"Now give to me the little babe", "\"For God's sake, Rudiger!\"", "", "\"Now hush thee, hush thee Margaret!", "\"Nor my poor heart distress--", "\"I do but pay perforce the price", "\"Of former happiness.", "", "\"And hush thee too my little babe,", "\"Thy cries so feeble cease:", "\"Lie still, lie still;--a little while", "\"And thou shalt be at peace.\"", "", "So as he spake to land they drew,", "And swift he stept on shore,", "And him behind did Margaret", "Close follow evermore.", "", "It was a place all desolate,", "Nor house nor tree was there,", "And there a rocky mountain rose", "Barren, and bleak, and bare.", "", "And at its base a cavern yawn'd,", "No eye its depth might view,", "For in the moon-beam shining round", "That darkness darker grew.", "", "Cold Horror crept thro' Margaret's blood,", "Her heart it paus'd with fear,", "When Rudiger approach'd the cave", "And cried, \"lo I am here!\"", "", "A deep sepulchral sound the cave", "Return'd \"lo I am here!\"", "And black from out the cavern gloom", "Two giant arms appear.", "", "And Rudiger approach'd and held", "The little infant nigh;", "Then Margaret shriek'd, and gather'd then", "New powers from agony.", "", "And round the baby fast and firm", "Her trembling arms she folds,", "And with a strong convulsive grasp", "The little infant holds.", "", "\"Now help me, Jesus!\" loud she cries.", "And loud on God she calls;", "Then from the grasp of Rudiger", "The little infant falls.", "", "And now he shriek'd, for now his frame", "The huge black arms clasp'd round,", "And dragg'd the wretched Rudiger", "Adown the dark profound." ], "linecount": "193" }, { "title": "Ode Written On The First Of December", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Tho' now no more the musing ear", "Delights to listen to the breeze", "That lingers o'er the green wood shade,", "I love thee Winter! well.", "", "Sweet are the harmonies of Spring,", "Sweet is the summer's evening gale,", "Pleasant the autumnal winds that shake", "The many-colour'd grove.", "", "And pleasant to the sober'd soul", "The silence of the wintry scene,", "When Nature shrouds her in her trance", "", "Not undelightful now to roam", "The wild heath sparkling on the sight;", "Not undelightful now to pace", "The forest's ample rounds;", "", "And see the spangled branches shine,", "And mark the moss of many a hue", "That varies the old tree's brown bark,", "Or o'er the grey stone spreads.", "", "The cluster'd berries claim the eye", "O'er the bright hollies gay green leaves,", "The ivy round the leafless oak", "Clasps its full foliage close.", "", "So VIRTUE diffident of strength", "Clings to RELIGION'S firmer aid,", "And by RELIGION'S aid upheld", "Endures calamity.", "", "Nor void of beauties now the spring,", "Whose waters hid from summer sun", "Have sooth'd the thirsty pilgrim's ear", "With more than melody.", "", "The green moss shines with icey glare,", "The long grass bends its spear-like form,", "And lovely is the silvery scene", "When faint the sunbeams smile.", "", "Reflection too may love the hour", "When Nature, hid in Winter's grave,", "No more expands the bursting bud", "Or bids the flowret bloom.", "", "For Nature soon in Spring's best charms", "Shall rise reviv'd from Winter's grave.", "Again expand the bursting bud,", "And bid the flowret bloom." ], "linecount": "43" }, { "title": "Hymn To The Penates", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Yet one Song more! one high and solemn strain", "Ere PAEAN! on thy temple's ruined wall", "I hang the silent harp: there may its strings,", "When the rude tempest shakes the aged pile,", "Make melancholy music. One Song more!", "PENATES! hear me! for to you I hymn", "The votive lay. Whether, as sages deem,", "Ye dwell in the inmost Heaven, the COUNSELLORS", "Of JOVE; or if, SUPREME OF DEITIES,", "All things are yours, and in your holy train", "JOVE proudly ranks, and JUNO, white arm'd Queen.", "", "And wisest of Immortals, aweful Maid", "ATHENIAN PALLAS. Venerable Powers!", "Hearken your hymn of praise! tho' from your rites", "Estranged, and exiled from your altars long,", "I have not ceased to love you, HOUSEHOLD GODS!", "In many a long and melancholy hour", "Of solitude and sorrow, has my heart", "With earnest longings prayed to rest at length", "Beside your hallowed hearth--for PEACE is there!", "", "Yes I have loved you long. I call on you", "Yourselves to witness with what holy joy,", "Shunning the polished mob of human kind,", "I have retired to watch your lonely fires", "And commune with myself. Delightful hours", "That gave mysterious pleasure, made me know", "All the recesses of my wayward heart,", "Taught me to cherish with devoutest care", "Its strange unworldly feelings, taught me too", "The best of lessons--to respect myself!", "", "Nor have I ever ceas'd to reverence you", "DOMESTIC DEITIES! from the first dawn", "Of reason, thro' the adventurous paths of youth", "Even to this better day, when on mine ear", "The uproar of contending nations sounds,", "But like the passing wind--and wakes no pulse", "To tumult. When a child--(for still I love", "To dwell with fondness on my childish years,", "Even as that Persian favorite would retire", "From the court's dangerous pageantry and pomp,", "To gaze upon his shepherd garb, and weep,", "Rememb'ring humble happiness.) When first", "A little one, I left my father's home,", "I can remember the first grief I felt,", "And the first painful smile that cloathed my front", "With feelings not its own: sadly at night", "I sat me down beside a stranger's hearth;", "And when the lingering hour of rest was come,", "First wet with tears my pillow. As I grew", "In years and knowledge, and the course of Time", "Developed the young feelings of my heart,", "When most I loved in solitude to rove", "Amid the woodland gloom; or where the rocks", "Darken'd old Avon's stream, in the ivied cave", "Recluse to sit and brood the future song,", "Yet not the less, PENATES, loved I then", "Your altars, not the less at evening hour", "Delighted by the well-trimm'd fire to sit,", "Absorbed in many a dear deceitful dream", "Of visionary joys: deceitful dreams--", "Not wholly vain--for painting purest joys,", "They form'd to Fancy's mould her votary's heart.", "", "By Cherwell's sedgey side, and in the meads", "Where Isis in her calm clear stream reflects", "The willow's bending boughs, at earliest dawn", "In the noon-tide hour, and when the night-mists rose,", "I have remembered you: and when the noise", "Of loud intemperance on my lonely ear", "Burst with loud tumult, as recluse I sat,", "Pondering on loftiest themes of man redeemed", "From servitude, and vice, and wretchedness,", "I blest you, HOUSEHOLD GODS! because I loved", "Your peaceful altars and serener rites.", "Nor did I cease to reverence you, when driven", "Amid the jarring crowd, an unfit man", "To mingle with the world; still, still my heart", "Sighed for your sanctuary, and inly pined;", "And loathing human converse, I have strayed", "Where o'er the sea-beach chilly howl'd the blast,", "And gaz'd upon the world of waves, and wished", "That I were far beyond the Atlantic deep,", "In woodland haunts--a sojourner with PEACE.", "", "Not idly fabled they the Bards inspired,", "Who peopled Earth with Deities. They trod", "The wood with reverence where the DRYADS dwelt;", "At day's dim dawn or evening's misty hour", "They saw the OREADS on their mountain haunts.", "And felt their holy influence, nor impure", "Of thought--or ever with polluted hands", "Touched they without a prayer the NAIAD'S spring;", "Yet was their influence transient; such brief awe", "Inspiring as the thunder's long loud peal", "Strikes to the feeble spirit. HOUSEHOLD GODS,", "Not such your empire! in your votaries' breasts", "No momentary impulse ye awake--", "Nor fleeting like their local energies,", "The deep devotion that your fanes impart.", "O ye whom YOUTH has wilder'd on your way,", "Or VICE with fair-mask'd foulness, or the lure", "Of FAME that calls ye to her crowded paths", "With FOLLY's rattle, to your HOUSEHOLD GODS", "Return! for not in VICE's gay abodes,", "Not in the unquiet unsafe halls of FAME", "Does HAPPINESS abide! O ye who weep", "Much for the many miseries of Mankind,", "More for their vices, ye whose honest eyes", "Frown on OPPRESSION,--ye whose honest hearts", "Beat high when FREEDOM sounds her dread tocsin;--", "O ye who quit the path of peaceful life", "Crusading for mankind--a spaniel race", "That lick the hand that beats them, or tear all", "Alike in frenzy--to your HOUSEHOLD GODS", "Return, for by their altars VIRTUE dwells", "And HAPPINESS with her; for by their fires", "TRANQUILLITY in no unsocial mood", "Sits silent, listening to the pattering shower;", "For, so SUSPICION sleep not at the gate", "Of WISDOM,--FALSEHOOD shall not enter there.", "", "As on the height of some huge eminence,", "Reach'd with long labour, the way-faring man", "Pauses awhile, and gazing o'er the plain", "With many a sore step travelled, turns him then", "Serious to contemplate the onward road,", "And calls to mind the comforts of his home,", "And sighs that he has left them, and resolves", "To stray no more: I on my way of life", "Muse thus PENATES, and with firmest faith", "Devote myself to you. I will not quit", "To mingle with the mob your calm abodes,", "Where, by the evening hearth CONTENTMENT sits", "And hears the cricket chirp; where LOVE delights", "To dwell, and on your altars lays his torch", "That burns with no extinguishable flame.", "", "Hear me ye POWERS benignant! there is one", "Must be mine inmate--for I may not chuse", "But love him. He is one whom many wrongs", "Have sicken'd of the world. There was a time", "When he would weep to hear of wickedness", "And wonder at the tale; when for the opprest", "He felt a brother's pity, to the oppressor", "A good man's honest anger. His quick eye", "Betray'd each rising feeling, every thought", "Leapt to his tongue. When first among mankind", "He mingled, by himself he judged of them,", "And loved and trusted them, to Wisdom deaf,", "And took them to his bosom. FALSEHOOD met", "Her unsuspecting victim, fair of front,", "And lovely as Apega's sculptured form,", "Like that false image caught his warm embrace", "And gored his open breast. The reptile race", "Clung round his bosom, and with viper folds", "Encircling, stung the fool who fostered them.", "His mother was SIMPLICITY, his sire", "BENEVOLENCE; in earlier days he bore", "His father's name; the world who injured him", "Call him MISANTHROPY. I may not chuse", "But love him, HOUSEHOLD GODS! for we were nurst", "In the same school.", "", "PENATES! some there are", "Who say, that not in the inmost heaven ye dwell,", "Gazing with eye remote on all the ways", "Of man, his GUARDIAN GODS; wiselier they deem", "A dearer interest to the human race", "Links you, yourselves the SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.", "No mortal eye may pierce the invisible world,", "No light of human reason penetrate", "That depth where Truth lies hid. Yet to this faith", "My heart with instant sympathy assents;", "And I would judge all systems and all faiths", "By that best touchstone, from whose test DECEIT", "Shrinks like the Arch-Fiend at Ithuriel's spear,", "And SOPHISTRY'S gay glittering bubble bursts,", "As at the spousals of the Nereid's son,", "When that false Florimel, by her prototype", "Display'd in rivalry, with all her charms", "Dissolved away.", "", "Nor can the halls of Heaven", "Give to the human soul such kindred joy,", "As hovering o'er its earthly haunts it feels,", "When with the breeze it wantons round the brow", "Of one beloved on earth; or when at night", "In dreams it comes, and brings with it the DAYS", "And JOYS that are no more, Or when, perchance", "With power permitted to alleviate ill", "And fit the sufferer for the coming woe,", "Some strange presage the SPIRIT breathes, and fills", "The breast with ominous fear, and disciplines", "For sorrow, pours into the afflicted heart", "The balm of resignation, and inspires", "With heavenly hope. Even as a Child delights", "To visit day by day the favorite plant", "His hand has sown, to mark its gradual growth,", "And watch all anxious for the promised flower;", "Thus to the blessed spirit, in innocence", "And pure affections like a little child,", "Sweet will it be to hover o'er the friends", "Beloved; then sweetest if, as Duty prompts,", "With earthly care we in their breasts have sown", "The seeds of Truth and Virtue, holy flowers", "Whose odour reacheth Heaven.", "", "When my sick Heart,", "(Sick with hope long delayed, than, which no care", "Presses the crush'd heart heavier from itself", "Seeks the best comfort, often have I deemed", "That thou didst witness every inmost thought", "SEWARD! my dear dead friend! for not in vain,", "Oh early summon'd in thy heavenly course!", "Was thy brief sojourn here: me didst thou leave", "With strengthen'd step to follow the right path", "Till we shall meet again. Meantime I soothe", "The deep regret of Nature, with belief,", "My EDMUND! that thine eye's celestial ken", "Pervades me now, marking no mean joy", "The movements of the heart that loved thee well!", "", "Such feelings Nature prompts, and hence your rites", "DOMESTIC GODS! arose. When for his son", "With ceaseless grief Syrophanes bewail'd,", "Mourning his age left childless, and his wealth", "Heapt for an alien, he with fixed eye", "Still on the imaged marble of the dead", "Dwelt, pampering sorrow. Thither from his wrath", "A safe asylum, fled the offending slave,", "And garlanded the statue and implored", "His young lost Lord to save: Remembrance then", "Softened the father, and he loved to see", "The votive wreath renewed, and the rich smoke", "Curl from the costly censer slow and sweet.", "From Egypt soon the sorrow-soothing rites", "Divulging spread; before your idol forms", "By every hearth the blinded Pagan knelt,", "Pouring his prayers to these, and offering there", "Vain sacrifice or impious, and sometimes", "With human blood your sanctuary defil'd:", "Till the first BRUTUS, tyrant-conquering chief,", "Arose; he first the impious rites put down,", "He fitliest, who for FREEDOM lived and died,", "The friend of humankind. Then did your feasts", "Frequent recur and blameless; and when came", "The solemn festival, whose happiest rites", "Emblem'd EQUALITY, the holiest truth!", "Crown'd with gay garlands were your statues seen,", "To you the fragrant censer smok'd, to you", "The rich libation flow'd: vain sacrifice!", "For nor the poppy wreath nor fruits nor wine.", "Ye ask, PENATES! nor the altar cleans'd", "With many a mystic form; ye ask the heart", "Made pure, and by domestic Peace and Love", "Hallowed to you.", "", "Hearken your hymn of praise,", "PENATES! to your shrines I come for rest,", "There only to be found. Often at eve,", "Amid my wanderings I have seen far off", "The lonely light that spake of comfort there,", "It told my heart of many a joy of home,", "And my poor heart was sad. When I have gazed", "From some high eminence on goodly vales", "And cots and villages embower'd below,", "The thought would rise that all to me was strange", "Amid the scene so fair, nor one small spot", "Where my tir'd mind might rest and call it home,", "There is a magic in that little word;", "It is a mystic circle that surrounds", "Comforts and Virtues never known beyond", "The hallowed limit. Often has my heart", "Ached for that quiet haven; haven'd now,", "I think of those in this world's wilderness", "Who wander on and find no home of rest", "Till to the grave they go! them POVERTY", "Hollow-eyed fiend, the child of WEALTH and POWER,", "Bad offspring of worse parents, aye afflicts,", "Cankering with her foul mildews the chill'd heart--", "Them WANT with scorpion scourge drives to the den", "Of GUILT--them SLAUGHTER with the price of death", "Buys for her raven brood. Oh not on them", "GOD OF ETERNAL JUSTICE! not on them", "Let fall thy thunder!", "", "HOUSEHOLD DEITIES!", "Then only shall be Happiness on earth", "When Man shall feel your sacred power, and love", "Your tranquil joys; then shall the city stand", "A huge void sepulchre, and rising fair", "Amid the ruins of the palace pile", "The Olive grow, there shall the TREE OF PEACE", "Strike its roots deep and flourish. This the state", "Shall bless the race redeemed of Man, when WEALTH", "And POWER and all their hideous progeny", "Shall sink annihilate, and all mankind", "Live in the equal brotherhood of LOVE.", "Heart-calming hope and sure! for hitherward", "Tend all the tumults of the troubled world,", "Its woes, its wisdom, and its wickedness", "Alike: so he hath will'd whose will is just.", "", "Meantime, all hoping and expecting all", "In patient faith, to you, DOMESTIC GODS!", "I come, studious of other lore than song,", "Of my past years the solace and support:", "Yet shall my Heart remember the past years", "With honest pride, trusting that not in vain", "Lives the pure song of LIBERTY and TRUTH." ], "linecount": "299" }, { "title": "The Pauper's Funeral", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "What! and not one to heave the pious sigh!", "Not one whose sorrow-swoln and aching eye", "For social scenes, for life's endearments fled,", "Shall drop a tear and dwell upon the dead!", "Poor wretched Outcast! I will weep for thee,", "And sorrow for forlorn humanity.", "Yes I will weep, but not that thou art come", "To the stern Sabbath of the silent tomb:", "For squalid Want, and the black scorpion Care,", "Heart-withering fiends! shall never enter there.", "I sorrow for the ills thy life has known", "As thro' the world's long pilgrimage, alone,", "Haunted by Poverty and woe-begone,", "Unloved, unfriended, thou didst journey on:", "Thy youth in ignorance and labour past,", "And thine old age all barrenness and blast!", "Hard was thy Fate, which, while it doom'd to woe,", "Denied thee wisdom to support the blow;", "And robb'd of all its energy thy mind,", "Ere yet it cast thee on thy fellow-kind,", "Abject of thought, the victim of distress,", "To wander in the world's wide wilderness.", "", "Poor Outcast sleep in peace! the wintry storm", "Blows bleak no more on thine unshelter'd form;", "Thy woes are past; thou restest in the tomb;--", "I pause--and ponder on the days to come." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "Ode Written On The First Of January", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Come melancholy Moralizer--come!", "Gather with me the dark and wintry wreath;", "With me engarland now", "The SEPULCHRE OF TIME!", "", "Come Moralizer to the funeral song!", "I pour the dirge of the Departed Days,", "For well the funeral song", "Befits this solemn hour.", "", "But hark! even now the merry bells ring round", "With clamorous joy to welcome in this day,", "This consecrated day,", "To Mirth and Indolence.", "", "Mortal! whilst Fortune with benignant hand", "Fills to the brim thy cup of happiness,", "Whilst her unclouded sun", "Illumes thy summer day,", "", "Canst thou rejoice--rejoice that Time flies fast?", "That Night shall shadow soon thy summer sun?", "That swift the stream of Years", "Rolls to Eternity?", "", "If thou hast wealth to gratify each wish,", "If Power be thine, remember what thou art--", "Remember thou art Man,", "And Death thine heritage!", "", "Hast thou known Love? does Beauty's better sun", "Cheer thy fond heart with no capricious smile,", "Her eye all eloquence,", "Her voice all harmony?", "", "Oh state of happiness! hark how the gale", "Moans deep and hollow o'er the leafless grove!", "Winter is dark and cold--", "Where now the charms of Spring?", "", "Sayst thou that Fancy paints the future scene", "In hues too sombrous? that the dark-stol'd Maid", "With stern and frowning front", "Appals the shuddering soul?", "", "And would'st thou bid me court her faery form", "When, as she sports her in some happier mood,", "Her many-colour'd robes", "Dance varying to the Sun?", "", "Ah vainly does the Pilgrim, whose long road", "Leads o'er the barren mountain's storm-vext height,", "With anxious gaze survey", "The fruitful far-off vale.", "", "Oh there are those who love the pensive song", "To whom all sounds of Mirth are dissonant!", "There are who at this hour", "Will love to contemplate!", "", "For hopeless Sorrow hails the lapse of Time,", "Rejoicing when the fading orb of day", "Is sunk again in night,", "That one day more is gone.", "", "And he who bears Affliction's heavy load", "With patient piety, well pleas'd he knows", "The World a pilgrimage,", "The Grave the inn of rest." ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "The Old Woman of Berkeley", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "The Raven croak'd as she sate at her meal,", "And the Old Woman knew what he said,", "And she grew pale at the Raven's tale,", "And sicken'd and went to her bed.", "", "'Now fetch me my children, and fetch them with speed,'", "The Old Woman of Berkeley said,", "'The Monk my son, and my daughter the Nun,", "Bid them hasten or I shall be dead.'", "", "The Monk her son, and her daughter the Nun,", "Their way to Berkeley went,", "And they have brought with pious thought", "The holy sacrament.", "", "The Old Woman shriek'd as they enter'd her door,", "And she cried with a voice of despair,", "'Now take away the sacrament,", "For its presence I cannot bear!'", "", "Her lip it trembled with agony,", "The sweat ran down her brow,", "'I have tortures in store for evermore,", "But spare me, my children, now!'", "", "Away they sent the sacrament,", "The fit it left her weak,", "She look's at her children with ghastly eyes,", "And faintly struggled to speak.", "", "'All kind of sin have I rioted in,", "And the judgement now must be,", "But I secured my children's souls,", "Oh! pray, my children, for me!", "", "'I have 'nointed myself with infant's fat,", "The fiends have been my slaves,", "From sleeping babes I have suck'd the breath,", "And breaking by charms the sleep of death,", "I have call'd the dead from their graves.", "", "'And the Devil will fetch me now in fire,", "My witchcrafts to atone;", "And I who have troubled the dead man's grave", "Shall never have rest in my own.", "", "'Bless, I entreat, my winding sheet,", "My children, I beg of you;", "And with holy water sprinkle my shroud,", "And sprinkle my coffin, too.", "", "'And let me be chain'd in my coffin of stone,", "And fasten it strong, I implore,", "With iron bars, and with three chains,", "Chain it to the church floor.", "", "'And bless the chains and sprinkle them,", "And let fifty Priests stand round,", "Who night and day the mass may say", "Where I lie on the ground.", "", "'And see that fifty Choristers", "Beside the bier attend me,", "And day and night by the tapers' light,", "With holy hymns defend me.", "", "'Let the church bells all, both great and small,", "Be toll'd by night and day,", "To drive from thence the fiends who come", "To bear my body away.", "", "`And ever have the church door barr'd", "After the even-song;", "And I beseech you, children dear,", "Let the bars and bolts be strong.", "", "'And let this be three days and nights", "My wretched corpse to save;", "Till the fourth morning keep me safe,", "And then I may rest in my grave.'", "", "The Old Woman of Berkeley laid her down,", "And her eyes grew deadly dim,", "Short came her breath, and the struggle of death", "Did loosen every limb.", "", "They blest the old woman's winding sheet", "With rites and prayers due,", "With holy water they sprinkled her shroud,", "And they sprinkled her coffin too.", "", "And they chain'd her in her coffin of stone,", "And with iron barr'd it down,", "And in the church with three strong chains", "The chain'd it to the ground.", "", "And they blest the chains and sprinkled them,", "And fifty Priests stood round,", "By night and day the mass to say", "Where she lay on the ground.", "", "And fifty sacred Choristers", "Beside the bier attend her,", "Who day and night by the taper's light", "Should with holy hymns defend her.", "", "To see the Priests and Choristers", "It was a goodly sight,", "Each holding, as it were a staff,", "A taper burning bright.", "", "And the church bells all, both great and small,", "Did toll so loud and long;", "And they have barr'd the church door hard,", "After the even-song.", "", "And the first night the tapers' light", "Burnt steadily and clear,", "But they without a hideous rout", "Of angry fiends could hear;", "", "A hideous roar at the church door", "Like a long thunder peal;", "And the Priests they pray'd, and the Choristers sung", "Louder in fearful zeal.", "", "Loud toll'd the bell, the Priests pray'd well,", "The tapers they burnt bright,", "The Monk her son, and her daughter the Nun,", "They told their beads all night.", "", "The cock he crew, the Fiends they flew", "From the voice of the morning away;", "Then undisturb'd the Choristers sing,", "And the fifty Priests they pray;", "As they had sung and pray'd all night,", "They pray'd and sung all day.", "", "The second night the tapers' light", "Burnt dismally and blue,", "And every one saw his neighbour's face", "Like a dead man's face to view.", "", "And yells and cries without arise", "That the stoutest heart might shock,", "And a deafening roar like a cataract pouring", "Over a mountain rock.", "", "The Monk and Nun they told their beads", "As fast as they could tell,", "And aye as louder grew the noise", "The faster went the bell.", "", "Louder and louder the Choristers sung", "As they trembled more and more,", "And the Priests as they pray'd to heaven for aid,", "They smote their breasts full sore.", "", "The cock he crew, the Fiends they flew", "From the voice of the morning away;", "Then undisturb'd the Choristers sing,", "And the fifty Priests they pray;", "As they had sung and pray'd all night,", "The pray'd and sung all day.", "", "The third night came, and the tapers' flame", "A frightful stench did make;", "And they burnt as though they had been dipt", "In the burning brimstone lake.", "", "And the loud commotion, like the rushing of ocean,", "Grew momently more and more;", "And strokes as of a battering ram", "Did shake the strong church door.", "", "The bellmen, they for very fear", "Could toll the bell no longer;", "And still as louder grew the strokes", "Their fear it grew the stronger.", "", "The Monk and Nun forgot their beads,", "They fell on the ground in dismay;", "There was not a single Saint in heaven", "To whom they did not pray.", "", "And the Choristers' song, which late was so strong,", "Falter'd with consternation,", "For the church did rock as an earthquake shock", "Uplifed its foundation.", "", "And a sound was heard like the trumpet's blast,", "That shall one day wake the dead;", "The strong church door could bear no more,", "And the bolts and the bars they fled;", "", "And the tapers' light was extinguish'd quite,", "And the Choristers faintly sung,", "And the Priests dismay'd, panted and pray'd,", "And on all the Saints in heaven for aid", "They call'd with trembling tongue.", "", "And in He came with eyes of flame,", "The Devil to fetch the dead,", "And all the church with his presence glow'd", "Like a fiery furnace red.", "", "He laid his hand on the iron chains,", "And like flax they moulder'd asunder,", "And the coffin lid, which was barr'd so firm,", "He burst with his voice of thunder.", "", "And he bade the Old Woman of Berkeley rise,", "And some with her Master away;", "A cold sweat started on that cold corpse,", "At the voice she was forced to obey.", "", "She rose on her feet in her winding sheet,", "Her dead flesh quiver'd with fear,", "And a groan like that which the Old Woman gave", "Never did mortal hear.", "", "She follow'd her Master to the church door,", "There stood a black horse there;", "His breath was red like furnace smoke,", "His eyes like a meteor's glare.", "", "The Devil he flung her on the horse,", "And he leapt up before,", "And away like the lightning's speed they went,", "And she was seen no more.", "", "They saw her no more, but her cries", "For four miles round they could hear,", "And children at rest at their mothers' breast", "Started, and scream'd with fear." ], "linecount": "190" }, { "title": "Mary - A Ballad", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Author Note: The story of the following ballad was related to me, when a school boy, as a fact which had really happened in the North of England. I have", "adopted the metre of Mr. Lewis's Alonzo and Imogene--a poem deservedly", "popular.", "", "", "I.", "", "Who is she, the poor Maniac, whose wildly-fix'd eyes", "Seem a heart overcharged to express?", "She weeps not, yet often and deeply she sighs,", "She never complains, but her silence implies", "The composure of settled distress.", "", "", "II.", "", "No aid, no compassion the Maniac will seek,", "Cold and hunger awake not her care:", "Thro' her rags do the winds of the winter blow bleak", "On her poor withered bosom half bare, and her cheek", "Has the deathy pale hue of despair.", "", "", "III.", "", "Yet chearful and happy, nor distant the day,", "Poor Mary the Maniac has been;", "The Traveller remembers who journeyed this way", "No damsel so lovely, no damsel so gay", "As Mary the Maid of the Inn.", "", "", "IV.", "", "Her chearful address fill'd the guests with delight", "As she welcomed them in with a smile:", "Her heart was a stranger to childish affright,", "And Mary would walk by the Abbey at night", "When the wind whistled down the dark aisle.", "", "", "V.", "", "She loved, and young Richard had settled the day,", "And she hoped to be happy for life;", "But Richard was idle and worthless, and they", "Who knew him would pity poor Mary and say", "That she was too good for his wife.", "", "", "VI.", "", "'Twas in autumn, and stormy and dark was the night,", "And fast were the windows and door;", "Two guests sat enjoying the fire that burnt bright,", "And smoking in silence with tranquil delight", "They listen'd to hear the wind roar.", "", "", "VII.", "", "\"Tis pleasant,\" cried one, \"seated by the fire side", "\"To hear the wind whistle without.\"", "\"A fine night for the Abbey!\" his comrade replied,", "\"Methinks a man's courage would now be well tried", "\"Who should wander the ruins about.", "", "", "VIII.", "", "\"I myself, like a school-boy, should tremble to hear", "\"The hoarse ivy shake over my head;", "\"And could fancy I saw, half persuaded by fear,", "\"Some ugly old Abbot's white spirit appear,", "\"For this wind might awaken the dead!\"", "", "", "IX.", "", "\"I'll wager a dinner,\" the other one cried,", "\"That Mary would venture there now.\"", "\"Then wager and lose!\" with a sneer he replied,", "\"I'll warrant she'd fancy a ghost by her side,", "\"And faint if she saw a white cow.\"", "", "", "X.", "", "\"Will Mary this charge on her courage allow?\"", "His companion exclaim'd with a smile;", "\"I shall win, for I know she will venture there now,", "\"And earn a new bonnet by bringing a bough", "\"From the elder that grows in the aisle.\"", "", "", "XI.", "", "With fearless good humour did Mary comply,", "And her way to the Abbey she bent;", "The night it was dark, and the wind it was high", "And as hollowly howling it swept thro' the sky", "She shiver'd with cold as she went.", "", "", "XII.", "", "O'er the path so well known still proceeded the Maid", "Where the Abbey rose dim on the sight,", "Thro' the gate-way she entered, she felt not afraid", "Yet the ruins were lonely and wild, and their shade", "Seem'd to deepen the gloom of the night.", "", "", "XIII.", "", "All around her was silent, save when the rude blast", "Howl'd dismally round the old pile;", "Over weed-cover'd fragments still fearless she past,", "And arrived in the innermost ruin at last", "Where the elder tree grew in the aisle.", "", "", "XIV.", "", "Well-pleas'd did she reach it, and quickly drew near", "And hastily gather'd the bough:", "When the sound of a voice seem'd to rise on her ear,", "She paus'd, and she listen'd, all eager to hear,", "Aud her heart panted fearfully now.", "", "", "XV.", "", "The wind blew, the hoarse ivy shook over her head,", "She listen'd,--nought else could she hear.", "The wind ceas'd, her heart sunk in her bosom with dread", "For she heard in the ruins distinctly the tread", "Of footsteps approaching her near.", "", "", "XVI.", "", "Behind a wide column half breathless with fear", "She crept to conceal herself there:", "That instant the moon o'er a dark cloud shone clear,", "And she saw in the moon-light two ruffians appear", "And between them a corpse did they bear.", "", "", "XVII.", "", "Then Mary could feel her heart-blood curdle cold!", "Again the rough wind hurried by,--", "It blew off the hat of the one, and behold", "Even close to the feet of poor Mary it roll'd,--", "She felt, and expected to die.", "", "", "XVIII.", "", "\"Curse the hat!\" he exclaims. \"Nay come on and first hide", "\"The dead body,\" his comrade replies.", "She beheld them in safety pass on by her side,", "She seizes the hat, fear her courage supplied,", "And fast thro' the Abbey she flies.", "", "", "XIX.", "", "She ran with wild speed, she rush'd in at the door,", "She gazed horribly eager around,", "Then her limbs could support their faint burthen no more,", "And exhausted and breathless she sunk on the floor", "Unable to utter a sound.", "", "", "XX.", "", "Ere yet her pale lips could the story impart,", "For a moment the hat met her view;--", "Her eyes from that object convulsively start,", "For--oh God what cold horror then thrill'd thro' her heart,", "When the name of her Richard she knew!", "", "", "XXI.", "", "Where the old Abbey stands, on the common hard by", "His gibbet is now to be seen.", "Not far from the road it engages the eye,", "The Traveller beholds it, and thinks with a sigh", "Of poor Mary the Maid of the Inn." ], "linecount": "129" }, { "title": "Winter", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "A wrinkled crabbed man they picture thee,", "Old Winter, with a rugged beard as grey", "As the long moss upon the apple-tree;", "Blue-lipt, an icedrop at thy sharp blue nose,", "Close muffled up, and on thy dreary way", "Plodding alone through sleet and drifting snows.", "They should have drawn thee by the high-heapt hearth,", "Old Winter! seated in thy great armed chair,", "Watching the children at their Christmas mirth;", "Or circled by them as thy lips declare", "Some merry jest, or tale of murder dire,", "Or troubled spirit that disturbs the night,", "Pausing at times to rouse the mouldering fire,", "Or taste the old October brown and bright." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "To My Own Minature Picture Taken At Two Years Of Age", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "And I was once like this! that glowing cheek", "Was mine, those pleasure-sparkling eyes, that brow", "Smooth as the level lake, when not a breeze", "Dies o'er the sleeping surface! twenty years", "Have wrought strange alteration! Of the friends", "Who once so dearly prized this miniature,", "And loved it for its likeness, some are gone", "To their last home; and some, estranged in heart,", "Beholding me with quick-averted glance", "Pass on the other side! But still these hues", "Remain unalter'd, and these features wear", "The look of Infancy and Innocence.", "I search myself in vain, and find no trace", "Of what I was: those lightly-arching lines", "Dark and o'erhanging now; and that mild face", "Settled in these strong lineaments!--There were", "Who form'd high hopes and flattering ones of thee", "Young Robert! for thine eye was quick to speak", "Each opening feeling: should they not have known", "When the rich rainbow on the morning cloud", "Reflects its radiant dies, the husbandman", "Beholds the ominous glory sad, and fears", "Impending storms? they augur'd happily,", "For thou didst love each wild and wonderous tale", "Of faery fiction, and thine infant tongue", "Lisp'd with delight the godlike deeds of Greece", "And rising Rome; therefore they deem'd forsooth", "That thou shouldst tread PREFERMENT'S pleasant path.", "Ill-judging ones! they let thy little feet", "Stray in the pleasant paths of POESY,", "And when thou shouldst have prest amid the crowd", "There didst thou love to linger out the day", "Loitering beneath the laurels barren shade.", "SPIRIT of SPENSER! was the wanderer wrong?", "This little picture was for ornament", "Design'd, to shine amid the motley mob", "Of Fashion and of Folly,--is it not", "More honour'd by this solitary song?" ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "Donica - A Ballad", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Author Note: In Finland there is a Castle which is called the New Rock, moated about with a river of unfounded depth, the water black and the fish therein", "very distateful to the palate. In this are spectres often seen, which", "foreshew either the death of the Governor, or some prime officer", "belonging to the place; and most commonly it appeareth in the shape of", "an harper, sweetly singing and dallying and playing under the water.", "", "It is reported of one Donica, that after she was dead, the Devil walked", "in her body for the space of two years, so that none suspected but that", "she was still alive; for she did both speak and eat, though very", "sparingly; only she had a deep paleness on her countenance, which was", "the only sign of death. At length a Magician coming by where she was", "then in the company of many other virgins, as soon as he beheld her he", "said, \"fair Maids, why keep you company with the dead Virgin whom you", "suppose to be alive?\" when taking away the magic charm which was tied", "under her arm, the body fell down lifeless and without motion.", "", "The following Ballad is founded on these stories. They are to be found", "in the notes to The Hierarchies of the blessed Angels; a Poem by Thomas", "Heywood, printed in folio by Adam Islip, 1635.", "", ".................", "", "High on a rock, whose castled shade", "Darken'd the lake below,", "In ancient strength majestic stood", "The towers of Arlinkow.", "", "The fisher in the lake below", "Durst never cast his net,", "Nor ever swallow in its waves", "Her passing wings would wet.", "", "The cattle from its ominous banks", "In wild alarm would run,", "Tho' parched with thirst and faint beneath", "The summer's scorching sun.", "", "For sometimes when no passing breeze", "The long lank sedges waved,", "All white with foam and heaving high", "Its deafening billows raved;", "", "And when the tempest from its base", "The rooted pine would shake,", "The powerless storm unruffling swept", "Across the calm dead lake.", "", "And ever then when Death drew near", "The house of Arlinkow,", "Its dark unfathom'd depths did send", "Strange music from below.", "", "The Lord of Arlinkow was old,", "One only child had he,", "Donica was the Maiden's name", "As fair as fair might be.", "", "A bloom as bright as opening morn", "Flush'd o'er her clear white cheek,", "The music of her voice was mild,", "Her full dark eyes were meek.", "", "Far was her beauty known, for none", "So fair could Finland boast,", "Her parents loved the Maiden much,", "Young EBERHARD loved her most.", "", "Together did they hope to tread", "The pleasant path of life,", "For now the day drew near to make", "Donica Eberhard's wife.", "", "The eve was fair and mild the air,", "Along the lake they stray;", "The eastern hill reflected bright", "The fading tints of day.", "", "And brightly o'er the water stream'd", "The liquid radiance wide;", "Donica's little dog ran on", "And gambol'd at her side.", "", "Youth, Health, and Love bloom'd on her cheek,", "Her full dark eyes express", "In many a glance to Eberhard", "Her soul's meek tenderness.", "", "Nor sound was heard, nor passing gale", "Sigh'd thro' the long lank sedge,", "The air was hushed, no little wave", "Dimpled the water's edge.", "", "Sudden the unfathom'd lake sent forth", "Strange music from beneath,", "And slowly o'er the waters sail'd", "The solemn sounds of Death.", "", "As the deep sounds of Death arose,", "Donica's cheek grew pale,", "And in the arms of Eberhard", "The senseless Maiden fell.", "", "Loudly the youth in terror shriek'd,", "And loud he call'd for aid,", "And with a wild and eager look", "Gaz'd on the death-pale Maid.", "", "But soon again did better thoughts", "In Eberhard arise,", "And he with trembling hope beheld", "The Maiden raise her eyes.", "", "And on his arm reclin'd she moved", "With feeble pace and slow,", "And soon with strength recover'd reach'd", "", "Yet never to Donica's cheek", "Return'd the lively hue,", "Her cheeks were deathy, white, and wan,", "Her lips a livid blue.", "", "Her eyes so bright and black of yore", "Were now more black and bright,", "And beam'd strange lustre in her face", "So deadly wan and white.", "", "The dog that gambol'd by her side,", "And lov'd with her to stray,", "Now at his alter'd mistress howl'd", "And fled in fear away.", "", "Yet did the faithful Eberhard", "Not love the Maid the less;", "He gaz'd with sorrow, but he gaz'd", "With deeper tenderness.", "", "And when he found her health unharm'd", "He would not brook delay,", "But press'd the not unwilling Maid", "To fix the bridal day.", "", "And when at length it came, with joy", "They hail'd the bridal day,", "And onward to the house of God", "They went their willing way.", "", "And as they at the altar stood", "And heard the sacred rite,", "The hallowed tapers dimly stream'd", "A pale sulphureous light.", "", "And as the Youth with holy warmth", "Her hand in his did hold,", "Sudden he felt Donica's hand", "Grow deadly damp and cold.", "", "And loudly did he shriek, for lo!", "A Spirit met his view,", "And Eberhard in the angel form", "His own Donica knew.", "", "That instant from her earthly frame", "Howling the Daemon fled,", "And at the side of Eberhard", "The livid form fell dead." ], "linecount": "133" }, { "title": "The Soldier's Wife", "author": "Robert Southey", "lines": [ "Weary way-wanderer languid and sick at heart", "Travelling painfully over the rugged road,", "Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!", "", "Sorely thy little one drags by thee bare-footed,", "Cold is the baby that hangs at thy bending back", "Meagre and livid and screaming its wretchedness.", "", "Woe-begone mother, half anger, half agony,", "As over thy shoulder thou lookest to hush the babe,", "Bleakly the blinding snow beats in thy hagged face.", "", "Thy husband will never return from the war again,", "Cold is thy hopeless heart even as Charity--", "Cold are thy famish'd babes--God help thee, widow'd One!" ], "linecount": "12" } ]