Faster in thine? Nay, fear not, gentle child!
'Tis Love, not Fear, whose vernal breath pervades
The stillness round. Come, sit beside me here,
Where brooding violets mantle this green slope
With dark exuberance—and beneath these plumes
Of wavy fern, look where the cup-moss holds
In its pure crimson goblets, fresh and bright,
The starry dews of morning. Rest awhile,
And let me hear once more the woodland verse
I taught thee late—'twas made for such a scene.
(Child speaks.)
WOOD HYMN.
Broods there some spirit here?
The summer leaves hang silent as a cloud,
And o'er the pools, all still and darkly clear,
The wild wood-hyacinth with awe seems bow'd;
And something of a tender cloistral gloom
Deepens the violet's bloom.
The very light, that streams
Through the dim dewy veil of foliage round,
Comes tremulous with emerald-tinted gleams,
As if it knew the place were holy ground;
And would not startle, with too bright a burst,
Flowers, all divinely nurs'd.
Wakes there some spirit here?
A swift wind fraught with change, comes rushing by,
And leaves and waters, in its wild career,
Shed forth sweet voices—each a mystery!
Surely some awful influence must pervade
These depths of trembling shade!
Yes, lightly, softly move!
There is a Power, a Presence in the woods;
A viewless Being, that with Life and Love
Informs the reverential solitudes:
The rich air knows it, and the mossy sod—
Thou, Thou art here, my God!
And if with awe we tread
The Minster-floor, beneath the storied pane,
And midst the mouldering banners of the dead;
Shall the green voiceful wild seem less Thy fane,
Where Thou alone hast built?—where arch and roof
Are of thy living woof?
The silence and the sound
In the lone places, breathe alike of Thee;
The Temple-twilight of the gloom profound,
The dew-cup of the frail anemone,
The reed by every wandering whisper thrill'd—
All, all with thee are fill'd!
Oh! purify mine eyes,
More and yet more, by Love and lowly Thought,
Thy Presence, Holiest One! to recognise,
In these majestic aisles which Thou hast wrought!
And 'midst their sealike murmurs, teach mine ear
Ever Thy voice to hear!
