Page:Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 19 1827.pdf/3



, thou Tree, thou lonely Tree, One, where a thousand stood! Well might proud tales be told by thee, Last of the solemn Wood!

Dwells there no voice amidst thy boughs, With leaves yet darkly green? Stillness is round, and noontide glows— Tell us what thou hast seen!

"I have seen the forest-shadows lie    Where now men reap the corn; I have seen the kingly chace rush by,     Through the deep glades at morn.

"With the glance of many a gallant spear,    And the wave of many a plume, And the bounding of a hundred deer     It hath lit the woodland's gloom.

"I have seen the knight and his train ride past    With his banner borne on high; O'er all my leaves there was brightness cast     From his gleamy panoply.

"The pilgrim at my feet hath laid    His palm-branch 'midst the flowers, And told his beads, and meekly pray'd,     Kneeling at Vesper-hours.

"And the merry men of wild and glen,    In the green array they wore, Have feasted here with the red wine's cheer,     And the hunter-songs of yore.

"And the minstrel, resting in my shade,    Hath made the forest ring With the lordly tales of the high Crusade,     Once loved by chief and king.

"But now the noble forms are gone,    That walk'd the earth of old; The soft wind hath a mournful tone,     The sunny light looks cold.

"There is no glory left us now    Like the glory with the dead:— I would that where they slumber low,     My latest leaves were shed!"—

Oh! thou dark Tree, thou lonely Tree, That mournest for the Past! A peasant's home in thy shade I see, Embower'd from every blast.

A lovely and a mirthful sound Of laughter meets mine ear; For the poor man's children sport around On the turf, with nought to fear.

And roses lend that cabin's wall A happy summer-glow, And the open door stands free to all, For it recks not of a foe.

And the village-bells are on the breeze That stirs thy leaf, dark Tree!— —How can I mourn, amidst things like these, For the stormy Past with thee?F. H.