Verses on Various Occasions John Henry Newman (ebook reader android txt) š
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And that Godās grace-according love
Has come as gentle rain,
Which, falling in the vernal hour,
Tints the young leaf, perfumes the flower.
Dear Frank, we both are summonād now
As champions of the Lord;ā ā
Enrollād am I, and shortly thou
Must buckle on thy sword;
A high employ, nor lightly given,
To serve as messengers of heaven!
Deep in my heart that gift I hide;
I change it not away
For patriot-warriorās hour of pride,
Or statesmanās tranquil sway;
For poetās fire, or pleaderās skill
To pierce the soul and tame the will.
O! may we follow undismayād
Whereāer our God shall call!
And may His Spiritās present aid
Uphold us lest we fall!
Till in the end of days we stand,
As victors in a deathless land.
Chiswick. June 27, 1826.
V Nature and Art For an AlbumāMan goeth forthā4 with reckless trust
Upon his wealth of mind,
As if in self a thing of dust
Creative skill might find;
He schemes and toils; stone, wood and ore
Subject or weapon of His power.
By arch and spire, by tower-girt heights,
He would his boast fulfil;
By marble births, and mimic lightsā ā
Yet lacks one secret still;
Where is the master-hand shall give
To breathe, to move, to speak, to live?
O take away this shade of might,
The puny toil of man,
And let great Nature in my sight
Unroll her gorgeous plan;
I cannot bear those sullen walls,
Those eyeless towers, those tongueless halls.
Artās labourād toys of highest name
Are nerveless, cold, and dumb;
And man is fitted but to frame
A coffin or a tomb;
Well suits, when sense is passād away,
Such lifeless works the lifeless clay.
Here let me sit where wooded hills
Skirt yon far-reaching plain;
While cattle bank its winding rills,
And suns embrown its grain;
Such prospect is to me right dear,
For freedom, health, and joy are here.
There is a spirit ranging through
The earth, the stream, the air;
Ten thousand shapes, garbs ever new,
That busy One doth wear;
In colour, scent, and taste, and sound
The energy of Life is found.
The leaves are rustling in the breeze,
The bird renews her song;
From field to brook, oāer heath, oāer trees,
The sunbeam glides along;
The insect, happy in its hour,
Floats softly by, or sips the flower.
Now dewy rain descends, and now
Brisk showers the welkin shroud;
I care not, though with angry brow
Frowns the red thunder-cloud;
Let hail-storm pelt, and lightning harm,
āTis Natureās work, and has its charm.
Ah! lovely Nature! others dwell
Full favourād in thy court;
I of thy smiles but hear them tell,
And feed on their report,
Catching what glimpse an Ulcombe yields
To strangers loitering in her fields.
I go where form has neāer unbent
The sameness of its sway;
Where iron rule, stern precedent,
Mistreat the graceful day;
To pine as prisoner in his cell,
And yet be thought to love it well.
Yet so His high dispose has set,
Who binds on each his part;
Though absent, I may cherish yet
An Ulcombe of the heart;
Calm verdant hope divinely given,
And suns of peace, and scenes of heaven;ā ā
A soul prepared His will to meet,
Full fixād His work to do;
Not laboured into sudden heat,
But inly born anew.ā ā
So living Nature, not dull Art,
Shall plan my ways and rule my heart.
Ulcombe. September, 1826.
VI Introduction to an AlbumI am a harp of many chords, and each
Strung by a separate hand;ā āmost musical
My notes, discoursing with the mental sense,
Not the outward ear. Try them, they will reply
With wisdom, fancy, graceful gaiety,
Or ready wit, or happy sentiment.
Come, add a string to my assort of sounds;
Widen the compass of my harmony;
And join thyself in fellowship of name
With those, whose courteous labour and fair gifts
Have given me voice, and made me what I am.
Brighton. April, 1827.
VII Snapdragon A Riddle for a Flower BookI am rooted in the wall
Of buttressād tower or ancient hall;
Prisonād in an art-wrought bed.
Cased in mortar, crampād with lead;
Of a living stock alone
Brother of the lifeless stone.
Else unprized, I have my worth
On the spot that gives me birth;
Natureās vast and varied field
Braver flowers than me will yield,
Bold in form and rich in hue,
Children of a purer dew;
Smiling lips and winning eyes
Meet for earthly paradise.
Choice are suchā āand yet thou knowest
Highest he whose lot is lowest.
They, proud hearts, a home reject
Framed by human architect;
Humble-I can bear to dwell
Near the pale recluseās cell,
And I spread my crimson bloom,
Mingled with the cloisterās gloom.
Lifeās gay gifts and honours rare,
Flowers of favour! win and wear!
Rose of beauty, be the queen
In pleasureās ring and festive scene.
Ivy, climb and cluster, where
Lordly oaks vouchsafe a stair.
Vaunt, fair Lily, stately dame,
Pride of birth and pomp of name.
Miser Crocus, starved with cold,
Hide in earth thy timid gold.
Travellād Dahlia, freely boast
Knowledge brought from foreign coast.
Pleasure, wealth, birth, knowledge, power,
These have each an emblem flower;
So for me alone remains
Lowly thought and cheerful pains.
Be it mine to set restraint
On roving wish and selfish plaint;
And for manās drear haunts to leave
Dewy morn and balmy eve.
Be it mine the barren stone
To deck with green life not its own.
So to soften and to grace
Of human works the rugged face.
Mine, the Unseen to display
In the crowded public way,
Where lifeās busy arts combine
To shut out the Hand Divine.
Ah! no more a scentless flower,
By approving Heavenās high power,
Suddenly my leaves exhale
Fragrance of the Syrian gale.
Ah! ātis timely comfort given
By the answering breath of Heaven!
May it be! then well might I
In College cloister live and die.
Ulcombe. October 2, 1827.
VIII The Trance of TimeāFelix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari!ā
In childhood, when with eager eyes
The season-measured year I viewād,
All, garbād in fairy guise,
Pledged constancy of good.
Spring sang of heaven; the summer flowers
Bade me gaze on, and did not fade;
Even suns oāer autumnās bowers
Heard my strong wish, and stayād.
They came and went, the short-lived four;
Yet, as their varying dance they wove,
To my young heart each bore
Its own sure claim of love.
Far different now;ā āthe whirling year
Vainly my dizzy eyes pursue;
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