Page:Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 42 1834.pdf/8



Calm scenes of patriarch life! how long a power Your unworn pastoral images retain O'er the true heart, which, in its childhood's hour, Drank their pure freshness deep! The camel's train, Winding in patience o'er the desert-plain, The tent, the palm-tree, the reposing flock, The gleaming fount, the shadow of the rock. Oh! by how subtle, yet how strong a chain, And in the influence of its touch how blest, Are these things linked, for many a thoughtful breast, With household memories, through all change endeared! The matin-bird, the ripple of a stream, Beside our native porch, the hearth-light's gleam, The voices earliest by the soul revered!