THERE is in souls a sympathy with sounds, Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies. In cadence sweet, now dying all away, Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on! With easy force it opens all the cells Where Mem'ry slept. Wherever I have heard A kindred melody, the scene recurs, 10 And with it all it's pleasures and it's pains. Such comprehensive views the spirit takes, (As in a map the voyager his course) It seem'd not always short; the rugged path, How readily we wish time spent revok❜d, 20 That we might try the ground again, where once (Through inexperience, as we now perceive) We miss'd that happiness we might have found! When most severe, and must'ring all it's force, 30 Whose favour, like the clouds of spring, might low'r, And utter now and then an awful voice, But had a blessing in it's darkest frown, His shelt'ring side, and wilfully forewent That converse, which we now in vain regret. The boy's neglected sire! a mother too, And makes the World the wilderness it is. 40 30 The few that pray at all pray oft amiss, And sccking grace t' improve the prize they hold, Would urge a wiser suit than asking more. The night was winter in his roughest mood; The morning sharp and clear. But now at noon Upon the southern side of the slant hills, And where the woods fence off the northern blast, The season smiles, resigning all it's rage, 61 And has the warmth of May. The vault is blue Without a cloud, and white without a speck The dazzling splendour of the scene below. Again the harmony comes o'er the vale; And through the trees I view th' embattled tow'r, The soothing influence of the wafted strains, The walk, still verdant, under oaks and elms, 70 The roof, though mov'able through all it's length As the wind sways it, has yet well suffic'd, The frequent flakes, has kept a path for me. No noise is here, or none that hinders thought. The redbreast warbles still, but is content 81 With slender notes, and more than half suppress'd: 90 |