| |
| ’TIS gone—with old belief and dream | |
| That round it clung, and tempting scheme | |
| Released from fear and doubt; | |
| And the bright landscape too must lie, | |
| By this blank wall, from every eye, | 5 |
| Relentlessly shut out. | |
| |
| Bear witness ye who seldom passed | |
| That opening—but a look ye cast | |
| Upon the lake below, | |
| What spirit-stirring power it gained | 10 |
| From faith which here was entertained, | |
| Though reason might say no. | |
| |
| Blest is that ground, where, o’er the springs | |
| Of history, Glory claps her wings, | |
| Fame sheds the exulting tear; | 15 |
| Yet earth is wide, and many a nook | |
| Unheard of is, like this, a book | |
| For modest meanings dear. | |
| |
| It was in sooth a happy thought | |
| That grafted, on so fair a spot, | 20 |
| So confident a token | |
| Of coming good;—the charm is fled, | |
| Indulgent centuries spun a thread, | |
| Which one harsh day has broken. | |
| |
| Alas! for him who gave the word; | 25 |
| Could he no sympathy afford, | |
| Derived from earth or heaven, | |
| To hearts so oft by hope betrayed; | |
| Their very wishes wanted aid | |
| Which here was freely given? | 30 |
| |
| Where, for the lovelorn maiden’s wound, | |
| Will now so readily be found | |
| A balm of expectation? | |
| Anxious for far-off children, where | |
| Shall mothers breathe a like sweet air | 35 |
| Of home-felt consolation? | |
| |
| And not unfelt will prove the loss | |
| ’Mid trivial care and petty cross | |
| And each day’s shallow grief: | |
| Though the most easily beguiled | 40 |
| Were oft among the first that smiled | |
| At their own fond belief. | |
| |
| If still the reckless change we mourn, | |
| A reconciling thought may turn | |
| To harm that might lurk here, | 45 |
| Ere judgment prompted from within | |
| Fit aims, with courage to begin, | |
| And strength to persevere. | |
| |
| Not Fortune’s slave is Man: our state | |
| Enjoins, while firm resolves await | 50 |
| On wishes just and wise, | |
| That strenuous action follow both, | |
| And life be one perpetual growth | |
| Of heaven-ward enterprise. | |
| |
| So taught, so trained, we boldly face | 55 |
| All accidents of time and place; | |
| Whatever props may fail, | |
| Trust in that sovereign law can spread | |
| New glory o’er the mountain’s head, | |
| Fresh beauty through the vale. | 60 |
| |
| That truth informing mind and heart, | |
| The simplest cottager may part, | |
| Ungrieved, with charm and spell; | |
| And yet, lost Wishing-gate, to thee | |
| The voice of grateful memory | 65 |
| Shall bid a kind farewell! | |
| |
