WORDSWORTH
by: Charlotte Grimke (1837-1914)
- OET of the serene and thoughtful
lay!
- In youth's fair dawn, when the soul, still untried,
- Longs for life's conflict, and seeks restlessly
- Food for its cravings in the stirring songs,
- The thrilling strains of more impassioned bards;
- Or, eager for fresh joys, culls with delight
- The flowers that bloom in fancy's fairy realm--
- We may not prize the mild and steadfast ray
- That streams from thy pure soul in tranquil song
- But, in our riper years, when through the heat
- And burden of the day we struggle on,
- Breasting the stream upon whose shores we dreamed,
- Weary of all the turmoil and the din
- Which drowns the finer voices of the soul;
- We turn to thee, true priest of Nature's fane,
- And find the rest our fainting spirits need,--
- The calm, more ardent singers cannot give;
- As in the glare intense of tropic days,
- Gladly we turn from the sun's radiant beams,
- And grateful hail fair Luna's tender light.
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POEMS BY CHARLOTTE GRIMKE |
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