XIV. No jealousy their dawn of love o'ercast, Nor blasted were their wedded days with strife; To the fond husband, and the faithful wife. They never roamed; secure beneath the storm Where peace and love are cankered by the worm Of pride, each bud of joy industrious to deform. XV. The wight, whose tale these artless lines unfold, Was all the offspring of this simple pair. His birth no oracle or seer foretold: No prodigy appeared in earth or air, Nor aught that might a strange event declare. You guess each circumstance of EDWIN's birth; The parent's transport, and the parent's care; The gossip's prayer for wealth, and wit, and worth; And one long summer-day of indolence and mirth. XVI. And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy; Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye. Dainties he heeded not, nor gaude, nor toy, Some deemed him wondrous wise, and some believed him mad. XVII. But why should I his childish feats display? There would he wander wild, 'till Phoebus' beam, Shot from the western cliff, released the weary team. XVIII. The exploit of strength, dexterity, or speed, To him nor vanity nor joy could bring. His heart, from cruel sport estranged, would bleed To work the woe of any living thing, By trap, or net; by arrow, or by sling; These he detested, those he scorned to wield: He wished to be the guardian, not the king, And sure the sylvan reign unbloody joy might yield. XIX. Lo! where the stripling, wrapt in wonder, roves And sees, on high, amidst the encircling groves, Would Edwin this majestic scene resign For aught the huntsman's puny craft supplies? Ah! no: he better knows great Nature's charms to prize. XX. And oft he traced the uplands, to survey, When o'er the sky advanced the kindling dawn, And lake, dim-gleaming on the smoky lawn; Where twilight loves to linger for a while; And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn, And villager abroad at early toil. But, lo! the sun appears! and heaven, earth, ocean, smile. XXI. And oft the craggy cliff he loved to climb, When all in mist the world below was lost. What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime, Like shipwrecked mariner on desert coast, And view the enormous waste of vapour, tost In billows, lengthening to the horizon round, Flocks, herds, and waterfalls, along the hoar profound! XXII. In truth he was a strange and wayward wight, And if a sigh would sometimes intervene, A sigh, a tear, so sweet, he wished not to controul. XXIII. ye wild groves, O where is now your bloom!' (The Muse interprets thus his tender thought.) "Your flowers, your verdure, and your balmy gloom, 'Of late so grateful in the hour of drought! Why do the birds, that song and rapture brought 'To all your bowers, their mansions now forsake ? 'Ah! why has fickle chance this ruin wrought! 'For now the storm howls mournful through the brake, 'And the dead foliage flies in many a shapeless flake. |