Descriptive Sketches Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLMNNOOPQPRSSTTUUVV WWXYKKIIZWA2B2B2C2C2 AAAD2D2E2F2G2G2G2G2S SH2H2I2I2G2G2G2G2G2G 2G2G2J2J2AAK2K2G2G2G 2G2G2G2L2L2M2M2N2N2R PO2O2P2P2G2G2G2G2G2G 2P2P2LLN2N2G2G2SSN2N 2Q2Q2G2G2N2N2N2N2G2G 2B2B2G2G2Q2Q2R2R2N2N 2B2B2N2N2N2N2LMLN2N2 G2G2B2B2RRO2O2S2S2B2 B2O2O2J2J2J2G2G2N2N2 T2PH2U2G2G2N2N2PPPN2 N2N2N2G2G2H2H2V2W2N2 N2N2N2G2G2C2WLLG2G2N 2N2X2X2Y2Y2M2M2N2N2N 2N2Z2Z2LLG2G2A3A3N2N 2B3C3N2N2Y2Y2M2M2O2O 2Q2Q2G2G2N2N2N2N2N2N 2X2X2P2P2LLC2T2N2N2J 2J2G2G2G2G2G2N2N2N2P P2N2N2N2B2B2S2S2N2N2 BBN2N2P2P2G2G2G2G2D3 D3G2G2Q2Q2N2N2LLN2N2 E3E3G2G2F3F3M2M2N2N2 N2N2N2N2N2N2N2N2G2G2 N2N2N2N2N2G2G2P2P2G3 G3N2N2A2A2G2G2Y2Y2TT G2G2G2G2LLM2M2N2N2G2 G2N2N2N2LO2O2LN2HHG2 G2N2N2H3H3X2X2I3I3O2 O2N2N2N2N2N2N2G2G2A2 A2N2N2N2N2N2N2A2A2N2 N2N2Q2Q2N2N2G2G2G2G2 G2G2N2N2A2A2N2N2N2N2 G2G2Q2Q2N2N2G2G2N2N2 N2N2N2N2J3J3N2N2N2N2 N2N2N2N2A2A2G2G2N2N2 N2N2N2N2G2G2N2N2A2A2 D3D3J3J3LLG2 G2A2O2O2A2A2J3J3G2G2 N2N2G2G2G2G2G2G2N2N2 G2G2A2A2N2N2N2N2N2N2 K3K3N2N2N2N2N2N2G2G2 O2O2LLJ3J3LLJ3J3J3J3 J3J3N2N2G2G2Q2Q2G2G2 LLB2B2J3J3N2N2N2N2A2 A2O2O2J3J3J3G2G2J3J3 A2A2J3LA2A2A2A2N2N2A 2A2N2N2N2N2N2N2LJ3N2 N2G2G2N2N2G2G2N2N2N2 N2G2G2A2O2O2LLX2X2J3 J3J3N2N2G2G2G2G2G2G2 A2A2LLLN2N2G2G2O2A2N 2N2G2G2LLG2G2LLA2A2G 2G2N2N2N2N2N2N2G2G2L LX2X2N2N2G2G2A2A2A2A 2L3L3A2A2J3J3G2G2N2N 2N2N2N2G2G2N2N2N2N2A 2A2N2N2N2N2G2G2

Were there below a spot of holy ground	A
Where from distress a refuge might be found	A
And solitude prepare the soul for heaven	B
Sure nature's God that spot to man had given	B
Where falls the purple morning far and wide	C
In flakes of light upon the mountain side	C
Where with loud voice the power of water shakes	D
The leafy wood or sleeps in quiet lakes	D
Yet not unrecompensed the man shall roam	E
Who at the call of summer quits his home	E
And plods through some wide realm o'er vale and height	F
Though seeking only holiday delight	F
At least not owning to himself an aim	G
To which the sage would give a prouder name	G
No gains too cheaply earned his fancy cloy	H
Though every passing zephyr whispers joy	H
Brisk toil alternating with ready ease	I
Feeds the clear current of his sympathies	I
For him sod seats the cottage door adorn	J
And peeps the far off spire his evening bourn	J
Dear is the forest frowning o'er his head	K
And dear the velvet green sward to his tread	K
Moves there a cloud o'er mid day's flaming eye	L
Upward he looks and calls it luxury	M
Kind Nature's charities his steps attend	N
In every babbling brook he finds a friend	N
While chastening thoughts of sweetest use bestowed	O
By wisdom moralise his pensive road	O
Host of his welcome inn the noon tide bower	P
To his spare meal he calls the passing poor	Q
He views the sun uplift his golden fire	P
Or sink with heart alive like Memnon's lyre	R
Blesses the moon that comes with kindly ray	S
To light him shaken by his rugged way	S
Back from his sight no bashful children steal	T
He sits a brother at the cottage meal	T
His humble looks no shy restraint impart	U
Around him plays at will the virgin heart	U
While unsuspended wheels the village dance	V
The maidens eye him with enquiring glance	V
Much wondering by what fit of crazing care	W
Or desperate love bewildered he came there	W
A hope that prudence could not then approve	X
That clung to Nature with a truant's love	Y
O'er Gallia's wastes of corn my footsteps led	K
Her files of road elms high above my head	K
In long drawn vista rustling in the breeze	I
Or where her pathways straggle as they please	I
By lonely farms and secret villages	Z
But lo the Alps ascending white in air	W
Toy with the sun and glitter from afar	A2
And now emerging from the forest's gloom	B2
I greet thee Chartreuse while I mourn thy doom	B2
Whither is fled that Power whose frown severe	C2
Awed sober Reason till she crouched in fear	C2
'That' Silence once in deathlike fetters bound	A
Chains that were loosened only by the sound	A
Of holy rites chanted in measured round	A
The voice of blasphemy the fane alarms	D2
The cloister startles at the gleam of arms	D2
The thundering tube the aged angler hears	E2
Bent o'er the groaning flood that sweeps away his tears	F2
Cloud piercing pine trees nod their troubled heads	G2
Spires rocks and lawns a browner night o'erspreads	G2
Strong terror checks the female peasant's sighs	G2
And start the astonished shades at female eyes	G2
From Bruno's forest screams the affrighted jay	S
And slow the insulted eagle wheels away	S
A viewless flight of laughing Demons mock	H2
The Cross by angels planted on the aerial rock	H2
The parting Genius sighs with hollow breath	I2
Along the mystic streams of Life and Death	I2
Swelling the outcry dull that long resounds	G2
Portentous through her old woods' trackless bounds	G2
Vallombre 'mid her falling fanes deplores	G2
For ever broke the sabbath of her bowers	G2
More pleased my foot the hidden margin roves	G2
Of Como bosomed deep in chestnut groves	G2
No meadows thrown between the giddy steeps	G2
Tower bare or sylvan from the narrow deeps	G2
To towns whose shades of no rude noise complain	J2
From ringing team apart and grating wain	J2
To flat roofed towns that touch the water's bound	A
Or lurk in woody sunless glens profound	A
Or from the bending rocks obtrusive cling	K2
And o'er the whitened wave their shadows fling	K2
The pathway leads as round the steeps it twines	G2
And Silence loves its purple roof of vines	G2
The loitering traveler hence at evening sees	G2
From rock hewn steps the sail between the trees	G2
Or marks 'mid opening cliffs fair dark eyed maids	G2
Tend the small harvest of their garden glades	G2
Or stops the solemn mountain shades to view	L2
Stretch o'er the pictured mirror broad and blue	L2
And track the yellow lights from steep to steep	M2
As up the opposing hills they slowly creep	M2
Aloft here half a village shines arrayed	N2
In golden light half hides itself in shade	N2
While from amid the darkened roofs the spire	R
Restlessly flashing seems to mount like fire	P
There all unshaded blazing forests throw	O2
Rich golden verdure on the lake below	O2
Slow glides the sail along the illumined shore	P2
And steals into the shade the lazy oar	P2
Soft bosoms breathe around contagious sighs	G2
And amorous music on the water dies	G2
How blest delicious scene the eye that greets	G2
Thy open beauties or thy lone retreats	G2
Beholds the unwearied sweep of wood that scales	G2
Thy cliffs the endless waters of thy vales	G2
Thy lowly cots that sprinkle all the shore	P2
Each with its household boat beside the door	P2
Thy torrents shooting from the clear blue sky	L
Thy towns that cleave like swallows' nests on high	L
That glimmer hoar in eve's last light descried	N2
Dim from the twilight water's shaggy side	N2
Whence lutes and voices down the enchanted woods	G2
Steal and compose the oar forgotten floods	G2
Thy lake that streaked or dappled blue or grey	S
'Mid smoking woods gleams hid from morning's ray	S
Slow traveling down the western hills to enfold	N2
Its green tinged margin in a blaze of gold	N2
Thy glittering steeples whence the matin bell	Q2
Calls forth the woodman from his desert cell	Q2
And quickens the blithe sound of oars that pass	G2
Along the steaming lake to early mass	G2
But now farewell to each and all adieu	N2
To every charm and last and chief to you	N2
Ye lovely maidens that in noontide shade	N2
Rest near your little plots of wheaten glade	N2
To all that binds the soul in powerless trance	G2
Lip dewing song and ringlet tossing dance	G2
Where sparkling eyes and breaking smiles illume	B2
The sylvan cabin's lute enlivened gloom	B2
Alas the very murmur of the streams	G2
Breathes o'er the failing soul voluptuous dreams	G2
While Slavery forcing the sunk mind to dwell	Q2
On joys that might disgrace the captive's cell	Q2
Her shameless timbrel shakes on Como's marge	R2
And lures from bay to bay the vocal barge	R2
Yet are thy softer arts with power indued	N2
To soothe and cheer the poor man's solitude	N2
By silent cottage doors the peasant's home	B2
Left vacant for the day I loved to roam	B2
But once I pierced the mazes of a wood	N2
In which a cabin undeserted stood	N2
There an old man an olden measure scanned	N2
On a rude viol touched with withered hand	N2
As lambs or fawns in April clustering lie	L
Under a hoary oak's thin canopy	M
Stretched at his feet with stedfast upward eye	L
His children's children listened to the sound	N2
A Hermit with his family around	N2
But let us hence for fair Locarno smiles	G2
Embowered in walnut slopes and citron isles	G2
Or seek at eve the banks of Tusa's stream	B2
Where 'mid dim towers and woods her waters gleam	B2
From the bright wave in solemn gloom retire	R
The dull red steeps and darkening still aspire	R
To where afar rich orange lustres glow	O2
Round undistinguished clouds and rocks and snow	O2
Or led where Via Mala's chasms confine	S2
The indignant waters of the infant Rhine	S2
Hang o'er the abyss whose else impervious gloom	B2
His burning eyes with fearful light illume	B2
The mind condemned without reprieve to go	O2
O'er life's long deserts with its charge of woe	O2
With sad congratulation joins the train	J2
Where beasts and men together o'er the plain	J2
Move on a mighty caravan of pain	J2
Hope strength and courage social suffering brings	G2
Freshening the wilderness with shades and springs	G2
There be whose lot far otherwise is cast	N2
Sole human tenant of the piny waste	N2
By choice or doom a gipsy wanders here	T2
A nursling babe her only comforter	P
Lo where she sits beneath yon shaggy rock	H2
A cowering shape half hid in curling smoke	U2
When lightning among clouds and mountain snows	G2
Predominates and darkness comes and goes	G2
And the fierce torrent at the flashes broad	N2
Starts like a horse beside the glaring road	N2
She seeks a covert from the battering shower	P
In the roofed bridge a the bridge ill that dread hour	P
Itself all trembling at the torrent's power	P
Nor is she more at ease on some 'still' night	N2
When not a star supplies the comfort of its light	N2
Only the waning moon hangs dull and red	N2
Above a melancholy mountain's head	N2
Then sets In total gloom the Vagrant sighs	G2
Stoops her sick head and shuts her weary eyes	G2
Or on her fingers counts the distant clock	H2
Or to the drowsy crow of midnight cock	H2
Listens or quakes while from the forest's gulf	V2
Howls near and nearer yet the famished wolf	W2
From the green vale of Urseren smooth and wide	N2
Descend we now the maddened Reuss our guide	N2
By rocks that shutting out the blessed day	N2
Cling tremblingly to rocks as loose as they	N2
By cells upon whose image while he prays	G2
The kneeling peasant scarcely dares to gaze	G2
By many a votive death cross planted near	C2
And watered duly with the pious tear	W
That faded silent from the upward eye	L
Unmoved with each rude form of peril nigh	L
Fixed on the anchor left by Him who saves	G2
Alike in whelming snows and roaring waves	G2
But soon a peopled region on the sight	N2
Opensa little world of calm delight	N2
Where mists suspended on the expiring gale	X2
Spread roof like o'er the deep secluded vale	X2
And beams of evening slipping in between	Y2
Gently illuminate a sober scene	Y2
Here on the brown wood cottages they sleep	M2
There over rock or sloping pasture creep	M2
On as we journey in clear view displayed	N2
The still vale lengthens underneath its shade	N2
Of low hung vapour on the freshened mead	N2
The green light sparkles the dim bowers recede	N2
While pastoral pipes and streams the landscape lull	Z2
And bells of passing mules that tinkle dull	Z2
In solemn shapes before the admiring eye	L
Dilated hang the misty pines on high	L
Huge convent domes with pinnacles and towers	G2
And antique castles seen through gleamy showers	G2
From such romantic dreams my soul awake	A3
To sterner pleasure where by Uri's lake	A3
In Nature's pristine majesty outspread	N2
Winds neither road nor path for foot to tread	N2
The rocks rise naked as a wall or stretch	B3
Far o'er the water hung with groves of beech	C3
Aerial pines from loftier steeps ascend	N2
Nor stop but where creation seems to end	N2
Yet here and there if mid the savage scene	Y2
Appears a scanty plot of smiling green	Y2
Up from the lake a zigzag path will creep	M2
To reach a small wood hut hung boldly on the steep	M2
Before those thresholds never can they know	O2
The face of traveler passing to and fro	O2
No peasant leans upon his pole to tell	Q2
For whom at morning tolled the funeral bell	Q2
Their watch dog ne'er his angry bark foregoes	G2
Touched by the beggar's moan of human woes	G2
The shady porch ne'er offered a cool seat	N2
To pilgrims overcome by summer's heat	N2
Yet thither the world's business finds its way	N2
At times and tales unsought beguile the day	N2
And 'there' are those fond thoughts which Solitude	N2
However stern is powerless to exclude	N2
There doth the maiden watch her lover's sail	X2
Approaching and upbraid the tardy gale	X2
At midnight listens till his parting oar	P2
And its last echo can be heard no more	P2
And what if ospreys cormorants herons cry	L
Amid tempestuous vapours driving by	L
Or hovering over wastes too bleak to rear	C2
That common growth of earth the foodful ear	T2
Where the green apple shrivels on the spray	N2
And pines the unripened pear in summer's kindliest ray	N2
Contentment shares the desolate domain	J2
With Independence child of high Disdain	J2
Exulting 'mid the winter of the skies	G2
Shy as the jealous chamois Freedom flies	G2
And grasps by fits her sword and often eyes	G2
And sometimes as from rock to rock she bounds	G2
The Patriot nymph starts at imagined sounds	G2
And wildly pausing oft she hangs aghast	N2
Whether some old Swiss air hath checked her haste	N2
Or thrill of Spartan fife is caught between the blast	N2
Swoln with incessant rains from hour to hour	P
All day the floods a deepening murmur pour	P2
The sky is veiled and every cheerful sight	N2
Dark is the region as with coming night	N2
But what a sudden burst of overpowering light	N2
Triumphant on the bosom of the storm	B2
Glances the wheeling eagle's glorious form	B2
Eastward in long perspective glittering shine	S2
The wood crowned cliffs that o'er the lake recline	S2
Those lofty cliffs a hundred streams unfold	N2
At once to pillars turned that flame with gold	N2
Behind his sail the peasant shrinks to shun	B
The 'west' that burns like one dilated sun	B
A crucible of mighty compass felt	N2
By mountains glowing till they seem to melt	N2
But lo the boatman overawed before	P2
The pictured fane of Tell suspends his oar	P2
Confused the Marathonian tale appears	G2
While his eyes sparkle with heroic tears	G2
And who that walks where men of ancient days	G2
Have wrought with godlike arm the deeds of praise	G2
Feels not the spirit of the place control	D3
Or rouse and agitate his labouring soul	D3
Say who by thinking on Canadian hills	G2
Or wild Aosta lulled by Alpine rills	G2
On Zutphen's plain or on that highland dell	Q2
Through which rough Garry cleaves his way can tell	Q2
What high resolves exalt the tenderest thought	N2
Of him whom passion rivets to the spot	N2
Where breathed the gale that caught Wolfe's happiest sigh	L
And the last sunbeam fell on Bayard's eye	L
Where bleeding Sidney from the cup retired	N2
And glad Dundee in faint huzzas expired	N2
But now with other mind I stand alone	E3
Upon the summit of this naked cone	E3
And watch the fearless chamois hunter chase	G2
His prey through tracts abrupt of desolate space	G2
Through vacant worlds where Nature never gave	F3
A brook to murmur or a bough to wave	F3
Which unsubstantial Phantoms sacred keep	M2
Thro' worlds where Life and Voice and Motion sleep	M2
Where silent Hours their deathlike sway extend	N2
Save when the avalanche breaks loose to rend	N2
Its way with uproar till the ruin drowned	N2
In some dense wood or gulf of snow profound	N2
Mocks the dull ear of Time with deaf abortive sound	N2
'Tis his while wandering on from height to height	N2
To see a planet's pomp and steady light	N2
In the least star of scarce appearing night	N2
While the pale moon moves near him on the bound	N2
Of ether shining with diminished round	N2
And far and wide the icy summits blaze	G2
Rejoicing in the glory of her rays	G2
To him the day star glitters small and bright	N2
Shorn of its beams insufferably white	N2
And he can look beyond the sun and view	N2
Those fast receding depths of sable blue	N2
Flying till vision can no more pursue	N2
At once bewildering mists around him close	G2
And cold and hunger are his least of woes	G2
The Demon of the snow with angry roar	P2
Descending shuts for aye his prison door	P2
Soon with despair's whole weight his spirits sink	G3
Bread has he none the snow must be his drink	G3
And ere his eyes can close upon the day	N2
The eagle of the Alps o'ershades her prey	N2
Now couch thyself where heard with fear afar	A2
Thunders through echoing pines the headlong Aar	A2
Or rather stay to taste the mild delights	G2
Of pensive Underwalden's pastoral heights	G2
Is there who 'mid these awful wilds has seen	Y2
The native Genii walk the mountain green	Y2
Or heard while other worlds their charms reveal	T
Soft music o'er the aerial summit steal	T
While o'er the desert answering every close	G2
Rich steam of sweetest perfume comes and goes	G2
And sure there is a secret Power that reigns	G2
Here where no trace of man the spot profanes	G2
Nought but the 'chalets' flat and bare on high	L
Suspended 'mid the quiet of the sky	L
Or distant herds that pasturing upward creep	M2
And not untended climb the dangerous steep	M2
How still no irreligious sound or sight	N2
Rouses the soul from her severe delight	N2
An idle voice the sabbath region fills	G2
Of Deep that calls to Deep across the hills	G2
And with that voice accords the soothing sound	N2
Of drowsy bells for ever tinkling round	N2
Faint wail of eagle melting into blue	N2
Beneath the cliffs and pine woods' steady 'sugh'	L
The solitary heifer's deepened low	O2
Or rumbling heard remote of falling snow	O2
All motions sounds and voices far and nigh	L
Blend in a music of tranquillity	N2
Save when a stranger seen below the boy	H
Shouts from the echoing hills with savage joy	H
When from the sunny breast of open seas	G2
And bays with myrtle fringed the southern breeze	G2
Comes on to gladden April with the sight	N2
Of green isles widening on each snow clad height	N2
When shouts and lowing herds the valley fill	H3
And louder torrents stun the noon tide hill	H3
The pastoral Swiss begin the cliffs to scale	X2
Leaving to silence the deserted vale	X2
And like the Patriarchs in their simple age	I3
Move as the verdure leads from stage to stage	I3
High and more high in summer's heat they go	O2
And hear the rattling thunder far below	O2
Or steal beneath the mountains half deterred	N2
Where huge rocks tremble to the bellowing herd	N2
One I behold who 'cross the foaming flood	N2
Leaps with a bound of graceful hardihood	N2
Another high on that green ledge he gained	N2
The tempting spot with every sinew strained	N2
And downward thence a knot of grass he throws	G2
Food for his beasts in time of winter snows	G2
Far different life from what Tradition hoar	A2
Transmits of happier lot in times of yore	A2
Then Summer lingered long and honey flowed	N2
From out the rocks the wild bees' safe abode	N2
Continual waters welling cheered the waste	N2
And plants were wholesome now of deadly taste	N2
Nor Winter yet his frozen stores had piled	N2
Usurping where the fairest herbage smiled	N2
Nor Hunger driven the herds from pastures bare	A2
To climb the treacherous cliffs for scanty fare	A2
Then the milk thistle flourished through the land	N2
And forced the full swoln udder to demand	N2
Thrice every day the pail and welcome hand	N2
Thus does the father to his children tell	Q2
Of banished bliss by fancy loved too well	Q2
Alas that human guilt provoked the rod	N2
Of angry Nature to avenge her God	N2
Still Nature ever just to him imparts	G2
Joys only given to uncorrupted hearts	G2
'Tis morn with gold the verdant mountain glows	G2
More high the snowy peaks with hues of rose	G2
Far stretched beneath the many tinted hills	G2
A mighty waste of mist the valley fills	G2
A solemn sea whose billows wide around	N2
Stand motionless to awful silence bound	N2
Pines on the coast through mist their tops uprear	A2
That like to leaning masts of stranded ships appear	A2
A single chasm a gulf of gloomy blue	N2
Gapes in the centre of the sea and through	N2
That dark mysterious gulf ascending sound	N2
Innumerable streams with roar profound	N2
Mount through the nearer vapours notes of birds	G2
And merry flageolet the low of herds	G2
The bark of dogs the heifer's tinkling bell	Q2
Talk laughter and perchance a church tower knell	Q2
Think not the peasant from aloft has gazed	N2
And heard with heart unmoved with soul unraised	N2
Nor is his spirit less enrapt nor less	G2
Alive to independent happiness	G2
Then when he lies out stretched at eventide	N2
Upon the fragrant mountain's purple side	N2
For as the pleasures of his simple day	N2
Beyond his native valley seldom stray	N2
Nought round its darling precincts can he find	N2
But brings some past enjoyment to his mind	N2
While Hope reclining upon Pleasure's urn	J3
Binds her wild wreaths and whispers his return	J3
Once Man entirely free alone and wild	N2
Was blest as free for he was Nature's child	N2
He all superior but his God disdained	N2
Walked none restraining and by none restrained	N2
Confessed no law but what his reason taught	N2
Did all he wished and wished but what he ought	N2
As man in his primeval dower arrayed	N2
The image of his glorious Sire displayed	N2
Even so by faithful Nature guarded here	A2
The traces of primeval Man appear	A2
The simple dignity no forms debase	G2
The eye sublime and surly lion grace	G2
The slave of none of beasts alone the lord	N2
His book he prizes nor neglects his sword	N2
Well taught by that to feel his rights prepared	N2
With this the blessings he enjoys to guard	N2
And as his native hills encircle ground	N2
For many a marvellous victory renowned	N2
The work of Freedom daring to oppose	G2
With few in arms innumerable foes	G2
When to those famous fields his steps are led	N2
An unknown power connects him with the dead	N2
For images of other worlds are there	A2
Awful the light and holy is the air	A2
Fitfully and in flashes through his soul	D3
Like sun lit tempests troubled transports roll	D3
His bosom heaves his Spirit towers amain	J3
Beyond the senses and their little reign	J3
And oft when that dread vision hath past by	L
He holds with God himself communion high	L
There where the peal of swelling torrents fills	G2
	-
The sky roofed temple of the eternal hills	G2
Or when upon the mountain's silent brow	A2
Reclined he sees above him and below	O2
Bright stars of ice and azure fields of snow	O2
While needle peaks of granite shooting bare	A2
Tremble in ever varying tints of air	A2
And when a gathering weight of shadows brown	J3
Falls on the valleys as the sun goes down	J3
And Pikes of darkness named and fear and storms	G2
Uplift in quiet their illumined forms	G2
In sea like reach of prospect round him spread	N2
Tinged like an angel's smile all rosy red	N2
Awe in his breast with holiest love unites	G2
And the near heavens impart their own delights	G2
When downward to his winter hut he goes	G2
Dear and more dear the lessening circle grows	G2
That hut which on the hills so oft employs	G2
His thoughts the central point of all his joys	G2
And as a swallow at the hour of rest	N2
Peeps often ere she darts into her nest	N2
So to the homestead where the grandsire tends	G2
A little prattling child he oft descends	G2
To glance a look upon the well matched pair	A2
Till storm and driving ice blockade him there	A2
There safely guarded by the woods behind	N2
He hears the chiding of the baffled wind	N2
Hears Winter calling all his terrors round	N2
And blest within himself he shrinks not from the sound	N2
Through Nature's vale his homely pleasures glide	N2
Unstained by envy discontent and pride	N2
The bound of all his vanity to deck	K3
With one bright bell a favourite heifer's neck	K3
Well pleased upon some simple annual feast	N2
Remembered half the year and hoped the rest	N2
If dairy produce from his inner hoard	N2
Of thrice ten summers dignify the board	N2
Alas in every clime a flying ray	N2
Is all we have to cheer our wintry way	N2
And here the unwilling mind may more than trace	G2
The general sorrows of the human race	G2
The churlish gales of penury that blow	O2
Cold as the north wind o'er a waste of snow	O2
To them the gentle groups of bliss deny	L
That on the noon day bank of leisure lie	L
Yet more compelled by Powers which only deign	J3
That 'solitary' man disturb their reign	J3
Powers that support an unremitting strife	L
With all the tender charities of life	L
Full oft the father when his sons have grown	J3
To manhood seems their title to disown	J3
And from his nest amid the storms of heaven	J3
Drives eagle like those sons as he was driven	J3
With stern composure watches to the plain	J3
And never eagle like beholds again	J3
When long familiar joys are all resigned	N2
Why does their sad remembrance haunt the mind	N2
Lo where through flat Batavia's willowy groves	G2
Or by the lazy Seine the exile roves	G2
O'er the curled waters Alpine measures swell	Q2
And search the affections to their inmost cell	Q2
Sweet poison spreads along the listener's veins	G2
Turning past pleasures into mortal pains	G2
Poison which not a frame of steel can brave	L
Bows his young head with sorrow to the grave	L
Gay lark of hope thy silent song resume	B2
Ye flattering eastern lights once more the hills illume	B2
Fresh gales and dews of life's delicious morn	J3
And thou lost fragrance of the heart return	J3
Alas the little joy to man allowed	N2
Fades like the lustre of an evening cloud	N2
Or like the beauty in a flower installed	N2
Whose season was and cannot be recalled	N2
Yet when opprest by sickness grief or care	A2
And taught that pain is pleasure's natural heir	A2
We still confide in more than we can know	O2
Death would be else the favourite friend of woe	O2
'Mid savage rocks and seas of snow that shine	J3
Between interminable tracts of pine	J3
Within a temple stands an awful shrine	J3
By an uncertain light revealed that falls	G2
On the mute Image and the troubled walls	G2
Oh give not me that eye of hard disdain	J3
That views undimmed Einsiedlen's wretched fane	J3
While ghastly faces through the gloom appear	A2
Abortive joy and hope that works in fear	A2
While prayer contends with silenced agony	J3
Surely in other thoughts contempt may die	L
If the sad grave of human ignorance bear	A2
One flower of hope oh pass and leave it there	A2
The tall sun pausing on an Alpine spire	A2
Flings o'er the wilderness a stream of fire	A2
Now meet we other pilgrims ere the day	N2
Close on the remnant of their weary way	N2
While they are drawing toward the sacred floor	A2
Where so they fondly think the worm shall gnaw no more	A2
How gaily murmur and how sweetly taste	N2
The fountains reared for them amid the waste	N2
Their thirst they slake they wash their toil worn feet	N2
And some with tears of joy each other greet	N2
Yes I must see you when ye first behold	N2
Those holy turrets tipped with evening gold	N2
In that glad moment will for you a sigh	L
Be heaved of charitable sympathy	J3
In that glad moment when your hands are prest	N2
In mute devotion on the thankful breast	N2
Last let us turn to Chamouny that shields	G2
With rocks and gloomy woods her fertile fields	G2
Five streams of ice amid her cots descend	N2
And with wild flowers and blooming orchards blend	N2
A scene more fair than what the Grecian feigns	G2
Of purple lights and ever vernal plains	G2
Here all the seasons revel hand in hand	N2
'Mid lawns and shades by breezy rivulets fanned	N2
They sport beneath that mountain's matchless height	N2
That holds no commerce with the summer night	N2
From age to age throughout his lonely bounds	G2
The crash of ruin fitfully resounds	G2
Appalling havoc but serene his brow	A2
Where daylight lingers on perpetual snow	O2
Glitter the stars above and all is black below	O2
What marvel then if many a Wanderer sigh	L
While roars the sullen Arve in anger by	L
That not for thy reward unrivalled Vale	X2
Waves the ripe harvest in the autumnal gale	X2
That thou the slaves of slaves art doomed to pine	J3
And droop while no Italian arts are thine	J3
To soothe or cheer to soften or refine	J3
Hail Freedom whether it was mine to stray	N2
With shrill winds whistling round my lonely way	N2
On the bleak sides of Cumbria's heath clad moors	G2
Or where dank sea weed lashes Scotland's shores	G2
To scent the sweets of Piedmont's breathing rose	G2
And orange gale that o'er Lugano blows	G2
Still have I found where Tyranny prevails	G2
That virtue languishes and pleasure fails	G2
While the remotest hamlets blessings share	A2
In thy loved presence known and only there	A2
'Heart' blessing soutward treasures too which the eye	L
Of the sun peeping through the clouds can spy	L
And every passing breeze will testify	L
There to the porch be like with jasmine bound	N2
Or woodbine wreaths a smoother path is wound	N2
The housewife there a brighter garden sees	G2
Where hum on busier wing her happy bees	G2
On infant cheeks there fresher roses blow	O2
And grey haired men look up with livelier brow	A2
To greet the traveler needing food and rest	N2
Housed for the night or but a half hour's guest	N2
And oh fair France though now the traveler sees	G2
Thy three striped banner fluctuate on the breeze	G2
Though martial songs have banished songs of love	L
And nightingales desert the village grove	L
Scared by the fife and rumbling drum's alarms	G2
And the short thunder and the flash of arms	G2
That cease not till night falls when far and nigh	L
Sole sound the Sourd prolongs his mournful cry	L
Yet hast thou found that Freedom spreads her power	A2
Beyond the cottage hearth the cottage door	A2
All nature smiles and owns beneath her eyes	G2
Her fields peculiar and peculiar skies	G2
Yes as I roamed where Loiret's waters glide	N2
Through rustling aspens heard from side to side	N2
When from October clouds a milder light	N2
Fell where the blue flood rippled into white	N2
Methought from every cot the watchful bird	N2
Crowed with ear piercing power till then unheard	N2
Each clacking mill that broke the murmuring streams	G2
Rocked the charmed thought in more delightful dreams	G2
Chasing those pleasant dreams the falling leaf	L
Awoke a fainter sense of moral grief	L
The measured echo of the distant flail	X2
Wound in more welcome cadence down the vale	X2
With more majestic course the water rolled	N2
And ripening foliage shone with richer gold	N2
But foes are gathering Liberty must raise	G2
Red on the hills her beacon's far seen blaze	G2
Must bid the tocsin ring from tower to tower	A2
Nearer and nearer comes the trying hour	A2
Rejoice brave Land though pride's perverted ire	A2
Rouse hell's own aid and wrap thy fields in fire	A2
Lo from the flames a great and glorious birth	L3
As if a new made heaven were hailing a new earth	L3
All cannot be the promise is too fair	A2
For creatures doomed to breathe terrestrial air	A2
Yet not for this will sober reason frown	J3
Upon that promise nor the hope disown	J3
She knows that only from high aims ensue	G2
Rich guerdons and to them alone are due	G2
Great God by whom the strifes of men are weighed	N2
In an impartial balance give thine aid	N2
To the just cause and oh do thou preside	N2
Over the mighty stream now spreading wide	N2
So shall its waters from the heavens supplied	N2
In copious showers from earth by wholesome springs	G2
Brood o'er the long parched lands with Nile like wings	G2
And grant that every sceptred child of clay	N2
Who cries presumptuous Here the flood shall stay	N2
May in its progress see thy guiding hand	N2
And cease the acknowledged purpose to withstand	N2
Or swept in anger from the insulted shore	A2
Sink with his servile bands to rise no more	A2
To night my Friend within this humble cot	N2
Be scorn and fear and hope alike forgot	N2
In timely sleep and when at break of day	N2
On the tall peaks the glistening sunbeams play	N2
With a light heart our course we may renew	G2
The first whose footsteps print the mountain dew	G2

William Wordsworth

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