a green and silent spot

8/10/2019 A Green and Silent Spot

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A green and silent spot, amid the hills,

A small and silent dell ! O’er stiller place

No singing sky-lark ever poised himself.

The hills are heathy, save that swelling slope,

Which hath a gay and gorgeos covering on,

All golden with the never-loomless fr"e,

Which now looms most profsely # t the dell,

$athed y the mist, is fresh and delicate

As vernal corn-field, or the nripe fla%,

When, throgh its half-transparent stalks, at eve,

The level snshine glimmers with green light.

Oh ! ’tis a &iet spirit-healing nook !Which all, methinks, wold love ' t chiefly he,

The hmle man, who, in his yothfl years,

(new )st so mch of folly, as had made

*is early manhood more secrely wise !

*ere he might lie on fern or withered heath,

While from the singing lark +that sings nseen

The minstrelsy that solitde loves est,

And from the sn, and from the ree"y air,weet inflences tremled o’er his frame '

And he, with many feelings, many thoghts,

ade p a meditative )oy, and fond

/eligios meanings in the forms of Natre !

And so, his senses gradally wrapt

0n a half sleep, he dreams of etter worlds,

And dreaming hears thee still, O singing lark,

That singest like an angel in the clods !

y 1od ! it is a melancholy thing

2or sch a man, who wold fll fain preserve

*is sol in calmness, yet perforce mst feel

2or all his hman rethren3O my 1od !

0t weighs pon the heart, that he mst think

What proar and what strife may now e stirring

This way or that way o’er these silent hills3

0nvasion, and the thnder and the shot,And all the crash of onset ' fear and rage,



And ndetermined conflict3even now,

4ven now, perchance, and in his native isle #

5arnage and groans eneath this lessed sn !

We have offended, Oh ! my contrymen !

We have offended very grievosly,

And een most tyrannos. 2rom east to west

A groan of accsation pierces *eaven !

The wretched plead against s ' mltitdes

5ontless and vehement, the sons of 1od,

Or rethren ! 6ike a clod that travels on,

teamed p from 5airo’s swamps of pestilence,

4ven so, my contrymen ! have we gone forth

And orne to distant tries slavery and pangs,

And, deadlier far, or vices, whose deep taint

With slow perdition mrders the whole man,

*is ody and his sol ! eanwhile, at home,

All individal dignity and power

4nglfed in 5orts, 5ommittees, 0nstittions,

Associations and ocieties,

A vain, speach-mothing, speech-reporting 1ild,

One $enefit-5l for mtal flattery,We have drnk p, demre as at a grace,

7olltions from the rimming cp of wealth '

5ontemptos of all honorale rle,

8et artering freedom and the poor man’s life

2or gold, as at a market ! The sweet words

Of 5hristian promise, words that even yet

ight stem destrction, were they wisely preached,

Are mttered o’er y men, whose tones proclaim

*ow flat and wearisome they feel their trade #

/ank scoffers some, t most too indolent

To deem them falsehoods or to know their trth.

Oh ! lasphemos ! the $ook of 6ife is made

A sperstitios instrment, on which

We gale o’er the oaths we mean to reak '

2or all mst swear3all and in every place,

5ollege and wharf, concil and )stice-cort '

All, all mst swear, the rier and the ried,



And technical in victories and defeats,

And all or dainty terms for fratricide '

Terms which we trndle smoothly o’er or tonges

6ike mere astractions, empty sonds to which

We )oin no feeling and attach no form !

As if the soldier died withot a wond '

As if the fires of this godlike frame

Were gored withot a pang ' as if the wretch,

Who fell in attle, doing loody deeds,

7assed off to *eaven, translated and not killed '

As thogh he had no wife to pine for him,

No 1od to )dge him ! Therefore, evil days

Are coming on s, O my contrymen !

And what if all-avenging 7rovidence,

trong and retritive, shold make s know

The meaning of or words, force s to feel

The desolation and the agony

Of or fierce doings <

pare s yet awhile,

2ather and 1od ! O ! spare s yet awhile !Oh ! let not 4nglish women drag their flight

2ainting eneath the rthen of their aes,

Of the sweet infants, that t yesterday

6aghed at the reast ! ons, rothers, hsands, all

Who ever ga"ed with fondness on the forms

Which grew p with yo rond the same fire-side,

And all who ever heard the saath-ells

Withot the infidel’s scorn, make yorselves pre !

tand forth ! e men ! repel an impios foe,

0mpios and false, a light yet crel race,

Who lagh away all virte, mingling mirth

With deeds of mrder ' and still promising

2reedom, themselves too sensal to e free,

7oison life’s amities, and cheat the heart

Of faith and &iet hope, and all that soothes,

And all that lifts the spirit ! tand we forth '

/ender them ack pon the inslted ocean,



And let them toss as idly on its waves

As the vile sea-weed, which some montain-last

wept from or shores ! And oh ! may we retrn

Not with a drnken trimph, t with fear,

/epenting of the wrongs with which we stng

o fierce a foe to fren"y !

0 have told,

O $ritons ! O my rethren ! 0 have told

ost itter trth, t withot itterness.

Nor deem my "eal or factios or mistimed '

2or never can tre corage dwell with them,

Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look At their own vices. We have een too long

9pes of a deep delsion ! ome, elike,

1roaning with restless enmity, e%pect

All change from change of constitted power '

As if a 1overnment had een a roe,

On which or vice and wretchedness were tagged

6ike fancy-points and fringes, with the roe

7lled off at pleasre. 2ondly these attachA radical casation to a few

7oor drdges of chastising 7rovidence,

Who orrow all their hes and &alities

2rom or own folly and rank wickedness,

Which gave them irth and nrsed them. Others, meanwhile,

9ote with a mad idolatry ' and all

Who will not fall efore their images,

And yield them worship, they are enemies

4ven of their contry !

ch have 0 een deemed3

$t, O dear $ritain ! O my other 0sle !

Needs mst tho prove a name most dear and holy

To me, a son, a rother, and a friend,

A hsand, and a father ! who revere

All onds of natral love, and find them all

Within the limits of thy rocky shores.O native $ritain ! O my other 0sle !



*ow sholdst tho prove aght else t dear and holy

To me, who from thy lakes and montain-hills,

Thy clods, thy &iet dales, thy rocks and seas,

*ave drnk in all my intellectal life,

All sweet sensations, all ennoling thoghts,

All adoration of 1od in natre,

All lovely and all honorale things,

Whatever makes this mortal spirit feel

The )oy and greatness of its ftre eing <

There lives nor form nor feeling in my sol

=norrowed from my contry ! O divine

And eateos island ! tho hast een my sole

And most magnificent temple, in the which

0 walk with awe, and sing my stately songs,

6oving the 1od that made me !3

ay my fears,

y filial fears, e vain ! and may the vants

And menace of the vengefl enemy

7ass like the gst, that roared and died away

0n the distant tree # which heard, and only heard0n this low dell, owed not the delicate grass.

$t now the gentle dew-fall sends aroad

The frit-like perfme of the golden fr"e #

The light has left the smmit of the hill,

Thogh still a snny gleam lies eatifl,

Aslant the ivied eacon. Now farewell,

2arewell, awhile, O soft and silent spot !

On the green sheep-track, p the heathy hill,

*omeward 0 wind my way ' and lo ! recalled

2rom odings that have well-nigh wearied me,

0 find myself pon the row, and pase

tartled ! And after lonely so)orning

0n sch a &iet and srronded nook,

This rst of prospect, here the shadowy main,

9im tinted, there the mighty ma)esty

Of that hge amphitheatre of richAnd elmy fields, seems like society3



5onversing with the mind, and giving it

A livelier implse and a dance of thoght !

And now, elov:d towey ! 0 ehold

Thy chrch-tower, and, methinks, the for hge elms

5lstering, which mark the mansion of my friend '

And close ehind them, hidden from my view,

0s my own lowly cottage, where my ae

And my ae’s mother dwell in peace ! With light

And &ickened footsteps thitherward 0 tend,

/ememering thee, O green and silent dell !

And gratefl, that y natre’s &ietness

And solitary msings, all my heart

0s softened, and made worthy to indlge

6ove, and the thoghts that yearn for hman kind.

a green and silent spot

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