XIV. COMPOSED IN ONE OF THE VALLEYS OF WESTMORELAND, ON EASTER SUNDAY. WITH each recurrence of this glorious morn These humble props disdained not! O green dales! XV. GRIEF, thou hast lost an ever ready Friend Now that the cottage spinning-wheel is mute; a Comforter that best could suit And Care -- Her froward mood, and softliest reprehend; And Love a Charmer's voice, that used to lend, More efficaciously than aught that flows XVI. TO THE RIVER DERWENT. AMONG the mountains where we nursed, loved Stream Thou, near the eagle's nest within brief sail, I, of his bold wing floating on the gale, Where thy deep voice could lull me!- Faint the beam Of human life when first allowed to gleam On mortal notice. - Glory of the Vale, Such thy meek outset, with a crown though frail Kept in perpetual verdure by the steam Of thy soft breath! - Less vivid wreaths entwined Nemæan Victor's brow; less bright was worn, Meed of some Roman Chief in triumph borne With captives chained; and shedding from his car The sunset splendors of a finished war Upon the proud enslavers of mankind! XVII. I WATCH, and long have watched, with calm regret Yon slowly-sinking Star, — immortal Sire (So might he seem) of all the glittering quire! Blue ether still surrounds him - yet — and yet ; But now the horizon's rocky parapet Is reached; where, forfeiting his bright attire, That droops and dwindles; and, the appointed debt XVIII. TO A SNOW-DROP, APPEARING VERY EARLY IN THE SEASON. LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they But hardier far, though modestly thou bend Thy front as if such presence could offend! Who guards thy slender stalk while, day by day, Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, way-lay The rising sun, and on the plains descend? Accept the greeting that befits a friend Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May Chaste Snow-drop, vent'rous harbinger of Spring, |