O spare! and let it still outspread Its beauties to the passing eye, And look up from its lowly bed Upon the sky. O spare my flower! Thou know'st not what Thy undiscerning hand would tear : A thousand charms thou notest not Lie treasured there. Not Solomon, in all his state, Was clad like nature's simplest child; Nor could the world combined create One floweret wild. Spare then this humble monument He made it who makes nought in vain : He watches it who watches thee; And he can best its date ordain Who bade it be. 0 spare my flower-for it is frail; A timid, weak, imploring thingAnd let it still upon the gale Its moral fling. That moral thy reward shall be: 66 Catch the suggestion, and apply : : Go, live like me," it cries; "like me "Soon, soon to die." ASPIRATIONS. I WOULD not always sail Upon a sunny sea: The mountain wave, the sounding gale, Have deeper joys for me. Let others love to creep Along the flowery dell: Be mine upon the craggy steep, Among the storms, to dwell. The rock, the mist, the foam, The wonderful, the wild I feel they form my proper home, And claim me for their child. The whirlwind's rushing wing, The stern volcano's voice, To me an awful rapture bring: I tremble, and rejoice. I love thy solemn roar, Thou deep, eternal sea, Sounding along from shore to shore The boundless and the free. I love the flood's hoarse song, The thunder's lordly mirth, The midnight wind, that walks along The hushed and trembling earth ; The mountain, lone and high, The dark and silent wood, The desert stretched from sky to sky In awful solitude. A presence and a power In scenes like these I see : The stillness of a midnight hour Has eloquence for me. Then, bursting earth's control, My thoughts are all at flood: I feel the stirrings in my soul Of an immortal mood. My energies expand; My spirit looks abroad; And, midst the terrible and grand, Feels nearer to her God. Let others tamely weigh The danger and the pain : I do not shrink the price to pay, To share the joy and gain. |