Verses on Various Occasions

SOLITUDE.

There is in stillness oft a magic power To calm the breast, when struggHng passions lower; Touch’d by its influence, in the soul arise Diviner feelings, kindred with the skies. By this the Arab’s kindling thoughts expand, When circling skies inclose the desert sand; For this the hermit seeks the thickest grove, To catch th’ inspiring glow of heavenly love. It is not solely in the freedom given To purify and fix the heart on heaven; There is a Spirit singing a\-e in air, That lifts us high above all mortal care. No mortal measure swells that mystic sound, No mortal minstrel breathes such tones around, — The Angels’ hymn, — the sovereign harmony That guides the rolling orbs along the sky, — And hence perchance the talcs of saints who view’d And heard Angehc choirs in solitude. By most unheard, — because the earthly din Of toil or mirtli has charms their cars to win. Alas for man! he knows not of tlic bliss, The heaven that brightens such a life as this.