Page:Songs of the Affections.pdf/200

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
192
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.


Hallow'd by man, in his dreams of old,
Unto beings not of this mortal mould
Viewless, and deathless, and wondrous powers,
Whose voice he heard in his lonely hours,
And sought with its fancied sound to still
The heart earth could not fill.

Therefore the flowers of bright summers gone,
O'er your sweet waters, ye streams! were thrown
Thousand of gifts, to the sunny sea
Have ye swept along in your wanderings free,
And thrill'd to the murmur of many a vow—
Where all is silent now!

Nor seems it strange that the heart hath been
So link'd in love to your margins green;
That still, though ruin'd, your early shrines
In beauty gleam through the southern vines,
And the ivyed chapels of colder skies,
On your wild banks arise.