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(Excerpt)
SOFTLY the blended light of evening rests | |
| Upon thee, lovely stream! Thy gentle tide, | |
| Picturing the gorgeous beauty of the sky, | |
| Onward, unbroken by the ruffling wind, | |
| Majestically flows. Oh! by thy side, | 5 |
| Far from the tumults and the throng of men, | |
| And the vain cares that vex poor human life, | |
| ’T were happiness to dwell, alone with thee, | |
| And the wide, solemn grandeur of the scene. | |
| From thy green shores, the mountains that enclose | 10 |
| In their vast sweep the beauties of the plain, | |
| Slowly receding, toward the skies ascend, | |
| Enrobed with clustering woods, o’er which the smile | |
| Of Autumn in his loveliness hath passed, | |
| Touching their foliage with his brilliant hues, | 15 |
| And flinging o’er the lowliest leaf and shrub | |
| His golden livery. On the distant heights | |
| Soft clouds, earth-based, repose, and stretch afar | |
| Their burnished summits in the clear, blue heaven, | |
| Flooded with splendor, that the dazzled eye | 20 |
| Turns drooping from the sight.—Nature is here | |
| Like a throned sovereign, and thy voice doth tell, | |
| In music never silent, of her power. | |
| Nor are thy tones unanswered, where she builds | |
| Such monuments of regal sway. These wide, | 25 |
| Untrodden forests eloquently speak, | |
| Whether the breath of summer stir their depths, | |
| Or the hoarse moaning of November’s blast | |
| Strip from their boughs their covering. * * * * * | |
| Far beyond this vale, | 30 |
| That sends to heaven its incense of lone flowers, | |
| Gay village spires ascend,—and the glad voice | |
| Of industry is heard. So in the lapse | |
| Of future years these ancient woods shall bow | |
| Beneath the levelling axe,—and man’s abodes | 35 |
| Displace their sylvan honors. They will pass | |
| In turn away; yet, heedless of all change, | |
| Surviving all, thou still wilt murmur on, | |
| Lessoning the fleeting race that look on thee | |
| To mark the wrecks of time, and read their doom. | 40 |
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