Читать книгу Selected Poems of Bernard Barton, the 'Quaker Poet' - Christopher Stokes W. - Страница 31

Оглавление

LEISTON ABBEY

Beautiful fabric! even in decay

And desolation, beauty still is thine:

As the rich sunset of an autumn day,

When gorgeous clouds in glorious hues combine

To render homage to its slow decline, 5

Is more majestic in its parting hour;

Even so thy mouldering, venerable shrine

Possesses now a more subduing power,

Than in thine earlier sway with pomp and pride thy dower.

To voice of praise or prayer, or solemn sound 10

Of sacred music, once familiar here,

Thy walls are echoless; within their bound,

Once holy deem’d, and to religion dear,

No sound salutes the most attentive ear

That tells thy former destiny; unless 15

It be when fitful breezes wandering near

Wake such faint sighs, as feebly might express

Some unseen spirit’s woe for thy lost loveliness.

Or when on stormy nights the winds are high,

And through thy roofless walls and arches sweep, 20

In tones more full of thrilling harmony

Than art could reach; while from the neighbouring deep

The roar of bursting billows seems to keep

Accordant measure with the tempest’s chime;

Oh, then! at times have I, arous’d from sleep, 25

Fancied that thou, even in thy proudest prime,

Couldst never have given birth to music more sublime.

But to the eye, revolving years still add

Fresh charms, which make thee lovelier to the view;

For nature has luxuriantly clad 30

Thy ruins; as if wishing to renew

Their claim to homage from those hearts that woo

Her gentle influence: with indulgent hand

She has aton’d for all that time could do,

Though she might not his ravages withstand; 35

And now thou art her own: her skill thy beauties plann’d.

The mantling ivy’s ever-verdant wreath

She gave thee as her livery to wear;

Thy wall-flowers, waving at the gentlest breath,

And scattering perfume on the summer air, 40

Wooing the bee to come and labour there;

The clinging moss, whose hue of sober grey

Makes beautiful what else were bleak and bare;

These she has given thee as a fit array

For thy declining pomp, and her delightful sway. 45

Yet is it not her power, or these alone

That make thee interesting as thou art;

The merely beautiful, however prone

We are to prize it, could not touch the heart.

Mere form and colour would not thus impart, 50

Unto the pensive, contemplating mind,

Thoughts which might almost cause a tear to start

In eyes not given to weep: there is assign’d

To thee a stronger power in deeper feeling shrin’d.

It is a consciousness of what thou wert, 55

Compar’d with what thou art; a feeling sense

Which even steals upon the most inert,

Who have the least conception how, or whence

Such mixt sensations should arise from thence;

But so it is, that few there are can gaze 60

Upon the wrecks of old magnificence,

Nor own the moral that their fate conveys,

How all that man can build his own brief power betrays.

And most of all this truth arrests the heart,

When edifices that were meant to be, 60

Not mere mementos of the builder’s art,

That future ages should with wonder see;

But monuments of wealth and piety,

To the Most High for ever consecrate;

When these, too, share the fate now fallen on thee, 70

Who can with stoic coldness contemplate

Their splendour thus defac’d, their pomp thus desolate.

No Catholic am I, in whom the sight

Of glories tarnish’d, altars overthrown,

Aught of revengeful feeling could excite: 75

Pope, Cardinal, and Abbot, I disown

Alike, as empty titles; seldom shown

More insignificant and profitless,

Than where they once assum’d their haughtiest tone;

Yet do I feel what words cannot express, 80

Viewing the faded pride of fancied holiness.

Of fancied holiness! O say not so,

Nor judge unkindly of another’s creed;

The intent and motive God alone can know,

And these condemn, or sanctify the deed. 85

Ave-maria, crucifix, and bead

Are nothing in themselves; but if they were

Imagin’d helpful in the votary’s need,

Although a faith more spiritual may spare

Such outward aids to seek, from blame it may forbear. 90

And thus this gorgeous edifice, if rear’d

By piety, which sought with honest aim

The glory of The Lord, should be rever’d,

Even for that cause, by those who seek the same.

Perchance the builders err’d; but who shall blame 95

Error, nor feel that they partake it too?

Then judge with charity, whate’er thy name,

Be thou a Pagan, Protestant, or Jew;

Nor with a scornful glance these papal reliques view.

I grant that Popery’s was a galling yoke, 100

Its ritual, one that reason must disdain;

And much I venerate their names who broke

The fetters, and releas’d us from the chain.

Dreadful indeed is superstition’s reign,

And priestcraft has pollution in its touch; 105

Yet, as extremes beget extremes again,

There is a danger, or there may be such,

That we in turn may doubt, as they believ’d, too much.

To give implicit credence to each tale

Of monkish legends; reliques to adore; 110

To think God honour’d by the cowl or veil,

Reckless or who, or what, the emblem wore;

Indeed is mockery, mummery, nothing more:

But if cold scepticism usurp the place

That superstition held in days of yore, 115

We may not be in much more hopeful case

Than if we still implor’d the Virgin Mary’s grace.

There is a medium, could we find it out,

(And all may find it if they seek aright,)

Between extreme credulity and doubt; 120

A safe and middle path, not gain’d by might

Or wisdom of our own; a path, whose light

“Shines more and more unto the perfect day;”

Not overcast by bigotry’s dark night,

Nor faintly lit by reason’s twilight ray; 125

But cloudless, straight, and plain; a high and holy way.

And those who walk therein, with humble trust

In Him who cast it up, and led them there,

Remembering this, that they are form’d of dust,

The gifts they have receiv’d with meekness bear: 130

Reason and faith are such; a peerless pair,

Would man but use them both with holy awe,

And of the abuse of each, in turn, beware,

They would instruct him what to love—to abhor,

And how to live in peace, and keep God’s righteous law. 135

But I have wander’d widely from my theme,

And some perhaps may think have wander’d long;

Yet others more indulgently may deem,

Nor chide the minstrel for his sober song:

It could not well be gay, thus fram’d among 140

The desolate ruins of departed days

And years gone by, whose presence wakes a throng

Of pensive thoughts, compelling me to raise,

In contemplative mood, chasten’d and solemn lays—

Congenial to the scene; and, as is fit, 145

Imprest with somewhat of its temper’d hues;

One, if no more, I trust will cherish it,

When she, the past retracing, shall peruse

This frail memorial of an humble muse:

For she will then remember how, erewhile, 150

Far from her home upon the banks of Ouse,

She wander’d with me through this ruin’d pile,

When autumn’s setting sun shed round his softest smile.

Yes, thou, my young friend, will not soon forget,

Nor shouldst thou, visiting this lovely scene; 155

Because upon thy brow thou bear’st as yet

Youth’s joyous chaplet of unblighted green,

Surpassing far the poet’s bay, I ween;

For the fresh dews which unto thine dispense

Its living loveliness—its charm serene, 160

Rise from the fount of early innocence,

That makes in happy hearts its hidden residence.

Thou art exactly at the age, when all

Within, each outward beauty can enhance;

When bliss has too much novelty to pall, 165

As it does afterwards in life’s advance,

Even reality may seem romance;

It often does, while yet delight is new;

And time, and place, and trivial circumstance,

That feed the eager fancy, charm the view, 170

At such an age as thine, may last existence through.

Therefore do I believe, that in thy heart

These ruins will their own remembrance keep;

And, sketch’d with them on memory’s faithful chart,

Will be, the wild walk to the mighty deep, 175

The lone and shady spot for washing sheep,

Where the tall, trembling aspens ceaseless play,

And we stood still to hear the light winds sweep

Their rustling leaves, while, in the unseen bay,

We heard the billows’ dash: these shall not pass away! 180

Nor will the scene that hail’d us at the close

Of our wild ramble, less survive to each;

When we exchang’d the stillness and repose

Of the lone common, for the open beach;

And saw before us, far as eye could reach, 185

The bursting breakers fling their foam on high,

And felt how poor was all the power of speech

To paint the grandeur and rude melody

That spoke, in nature’s tone, to heart, and ear, and eye.

Farewell! I may not lengthen out a strain 190

Already too protracted; then, farewell!

Nor shall I think that I have writ in vain,

If they, who love such scenes, whose bosoms swell

With those pure feelings that delight to dwell

In yet untroubled hearts; if such shall own 195

That I have spoken what their tongues would tell,

Returning from such haunts: that praise alone

Shall recompence me well, and for the task atone.

9th Mo. 20th, 1819.

Selected Poems of Bernard Barton, the 'Quaker Poet'

Подняться наверх