A NIGHT had passed away among the hills, And now the first faint tokens of the dawn Showed in the east. The bright and dewy star, Whose mission is to usher in the morn, Looked through the cool air, like a blessed thing In a far purer world. Below there lay Wrapped round a woody mountain tranquilly A misty cloud. Its edges caught the light, That now came up from out the unseen depth Of the full fount of day, and they were laced With colors ever-brightening. I had waked From a long sleep of many changing dreams, And now in the fresh forest air I stood Nerved to another day of wandering. Before me rose a pinnacle of rock,
Lifted above the wood that hemmed it in, And now already glowing. There the beams Came from the far horizon, and they wrapped it In light and glory. Round its vapory cone A crown of far-diverging rays shot out, And gave to it the semblance of an altar Lit for the worship of the undying flame, That centred in the circle of the sun,
Now coming from the ocean's fathomless caves, Anon would stand in solitary pomp
Above the loftiest peaks, and cover them
MORNING AMONG THE HILLS
With splendor as a garment. Thitherward I bent my eager steps; and through the grove Now dark as deepest night, and thickets hung With a rich harvest of unnumbered gems, Waiting the clearer dawn to catch the hues Shed from the starry fringes of its veil
On cloud and mist and dew, and backward thrown With undiminished beauty, on I went Mounting with hasty foot, and thence emerging I scaled that rocky steep, and there awaited Silent the full appearing of the sun.
Below there lay a far extended sea
Rolling in feathery waves. The wind blew o'er it, And tossed it round the high ascending racks, And swept it through the half hidden forest tops, Till, like an ocean waking into storm,
It heaved and weltered. Gloriously the light Crested its billows, and those craggy islands Shone on it like to palaces of spar
Built on a sea of pearl. Far overhead The sky without a vapor or a stain, Intensely blue, even deepened into purple, Where nearer the horizon it received
A tincture from the mist that there dissolved Into the viewless air,—the sky bent round The awful dome of a most mighty temple Built by omnipotent hands for nothing less Than infinite worship. There I stood in silence— I had no words to tell the mingled thoughts Of wonder and of joy, that then came o'er me,
Even with a whirlwind's rush. So beautiful, So bright, so glorious! Such a majesty In yon pure vault! So many dazzling tints In yonder waste of waves,-so like the ocean With its unnumbered islands there encircled By foaming surges, that the mounting eagle, Lifting his fearless pinion through the clouds To bathe in purest sunbeams, seemed an ospray Hovering above his prey, and yon tall pines, Their tops half mantled in a snowy veil, A frigate with full canvass, bearing on
To conquest and to glory. But even these, Had round them something of the lofty air
In which they moved ;-not like to things of earth, But heightened, and made glorious, as became Such pomp and splendor.
Who can tell the brightness,
That every moment caught a newer glow; That circle, with its centre like the heart Of elemental fire, and spreading out
In floods of liquid gold on the blue sky
And on the opaline waves, crowned with a rainbow Bright as the arch that bent above the throne
Seen in a vision by the holy man
In Patmos! Who can tell how it ascended, And flowed more widely o'er that lifted ocean Till instantly the unobstructed sun
Rolled up his sphere of fire, floating away— Away in a pure ether, far from earth,
And all its clouds, and pouring forth unbounded
His arrowy brightness! From that burning centre At once there ran along the level line Of that imagined sea, a stream of gold— Liquid and flowing gold, that seemed to tremble Even with a furnace of heat, on to the point, Whereon I stood. At once that sea of vapor Parted away, and melting into air
Rose round me, and I stood involved in light, As if a flame had kindled up, and wrapped me In its innocuous blaze. Away it rolled, Wave after wave. Then climbed the highest rocks, Poured over them in surges, and then rushed Down glens and valleys, like a wintry torrent Dashed instant to the plain. It seemed a moment, And they were gone, as if the touch of fire
At once dissolved them. Then I found myself Midway in air;-ridge after ridge below, Descended with their opulence of woods Even to the dim seen level, where a lake Flashed in the sun, and from it wound a line, Now silvery bright even to the farthest verge Of the encircling hills. A waste of rocks Was round me-but below how beautiful, How rich the plain-a wilderness of groves And ripening harvests; while the sky of June- The soft blue sky of June, and the cool air, That makes it then a luxury to live,
Only to breathe it, and the busy echo
Of cascades, and the voice of mountain brooks, Stole with such gentle meanings to my heart, That where I stood seemed Heaven.
good night! how from my heart Gushes the prayer-good night!
O! that a poet had but part
In some great Spirit's might; That with the swelling of his love
His power might hold increase; So he might spread thy couch above A firmament of peace.
So he might pour refreshing showers Of dreamy blessings o'er thee; And lift sweet Fancy's store of flowers And breaths of heaven before thee; Making the night's dull glance to give The light of Hope's bestowments; And quick'ning years of joy to live In space of flitting moments.
Yet, no!-he hath no spell-the leaf, On which his power is writ,
But giveth him to chase a grief
When happier thoughts were fit; When life's sad follies and dark ire O'ercloud familiar eyes,
To light his torch at Nature's fire
And bid her incense rise.
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