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PART II.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

O

Miscellaneous Poems.

DEDICATION.

To you, my Children, I inscribe these lays,

With pen unfaltering: not as one that claims The privilege of shining as a point

Of light amongst the constellated quires
Fixed in the sky of British poesy;

But glowing rather like a household lamp
With ready purpose in a peaceful home:
Albeit with something of a holy flame,
By natural objects kindled and sustained,
By you, hereafter, to be nursed and fed,
When I no more am with you, yet retain
A place within your filial memories,
As teacher and as playmate of your minds.
For we have conned together serious lore,
And childish fable, mine of sportive truths:

And when in wood and field we three have walked,

How have I loved your blithe companionship!
For to the state of childhood all things pay
Glad homage; and the spirits of dance and song,
Unbidden, ever seem to hover round you,
Within doors or without, disporting in
A region of discovery all your own,
Embellished by your artless similes.
And, if I do not err, so fairly shows
The spring-time of your budding intellect,
Ye both will learn, and at no distant day,
That to approach the Muse in suppliant guise
Becomes its own exceeding great reward,

A blessed consolation in distress.

Yet must the pearls of fantasy be strung
Upon the central thread of holiness;
With brotherly love enduring to the end:
So shall ye find an adequate support

Through evil and through good. Beloved twain,
Accept a Father's offering: take with this
Whate'er a Father's blessing may bestow.

PROLUSIO.

Na gray pony of Norwegian race,

Propped by his parent's all-sustaining hand, A fair-haired boy sits lightly as a bird:

A graceful fawn, whose dark and lovesome eye Serenely glitters in the morning sun,

Is gently pacing at the pony's side,

His friend and comrade both in stall and field.
Startling this elegant creature, who, in turn,
Rebuts and bounds in forwardness and fear,
Behold four favourite dogs, of beauty rare;
Their friendly tongues let loose, barking for joy,
As round and round impetuously they wheel,
Sweeping the quiet dew-drops from the lawn,
With their long glossy coats, yet in mid chase
Incline obsequious to their master's eye.
It is a scene to quicken and inspire

A Landseer's hand, addressed to picture forth
Some bodily semblance of domestic bliss,
To captivate mankind, and fix his fame.
Here from the city bring some wearied one
Athirst for Nature; here let him drink deep

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