MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. 1803. I. DEPARTURE FROM THE VALE OF GRASMERE. AUGUST, 1808. THE gentlest Shade that walked Elysian plains To see how things are made and managed there. O'er Limbo Lake with aëry flight to steer, And on the verge of Chaos hang in fear. Such animation often do I find, Power in my breast, wings growing in my mind, Then, when some rock or hill is overpast, Perchance without one look behind me cast, Some barrier with which Nature, from the birth Such happy fields, abodes so calm as thine; II. AT THE GRAVE OF BURNS. 1803. SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH. I SHIVER, Spirit fierce and bold, So sadness comes from out the mould Where Burns is laid. And have I then thy bones so near, And both my wishes and my fear Off weight, nor press on weight!-away To him, and aught that hides his clay Fresh as the flower, whose modest worth Doth glorify its humble birth With matchless beams. - The piercing eye, the thoughtful brow, Slept, with the obscurest, in the low I mourned with thousands, but as one Whose light I hailed when first it shone, How Verse may build a princely throne Alas! where'er the current tends, Regret pursues and with it blends, — Huge Criffel's hoary top ascends By Skiddaw seen, Neighbors we were, and loving friends True friends, though diversely inclined; But heart with heart and mind with mind, Where the main fibres are entwined, Through Nature's skill, May even by contraries be joined The tear will start, and let it flow; At this dread moment · even so Might we together Have sat and talked where gowans blow, What treasures would have then been placed Within my reach; of knowledge graced By fancy what a rich repast! But why go on? |