92 IIEXRY KIUKE WITITE'S POEMS. 



Heart-soothing Poesy ! — Tho' thou hast ceasM 



To hover o'er the many- voiced strin2;s 



Of my lorig silent lyre, yet thou canst still 



Call the warm tear from its thrice hallow'd cell, 



And with recalled images of bliss 



Warm my reluctant heart. — Yes, I would throw, 



Once more would throw, a quick and hurried hand 



O'er the responding chords. — It hath not ceas"d — 



It cannot, will not cease ; the heavenly warmth 



Plays round my heart, and mantles o'er my cheelc ; 



Still, tho' unbidden, plays. — Fair Poesy ! 



The summer and the spring, the wind and rain, 



Sunshine and storm, with various interchange, 



Have mark'd full many a day, and week, and month, 



Since by dark wood, or hamlet far retir'd, 



Spell-struck, with thee I loiter'd. — Sorceress! 



I cannot burst thy bonds ! — It is but lift 



Thy blue eyes to that deep bespangled vault, 



Wreathe thy enchanted tresses round thine arm, 



And mutter some obscure and charmed rhym.e, 



And I could follow thee, on thy night's work, 



Up to the regions of thrice-chastened tire, 



Or in the caverns of the ocean flood, 



Thrid the light masses of thy volant foot. 



Yet other duties call me, and mine ear 



■Must turn away frc«ii the high minstrelsy 



Of thy soul-trancing harp, unwillingly 



Must turn away ; — there are severer strains 



(And surely they are sweet as ever smote 



The ear of spirit, from this mortal coil 



Releas'd and disembodied), there are strains 



Forbid to all, save those whom solemn thought, 



Thro' the probation of revolving years, 



And mighty converse with the spirit of truth, 



Have purged and purified. — To these my soul 



Aspireth ; and to this subliraer end 



I gird myself, and climb the toilsome steep 



With patient expectation. — Yea, sometimes 



Foretaste of bliss rewards mo ; And sometiiuoa 



Spirits unseen upon my footsteps wait, 



