Page:The Poems and Prose remains of Arthur Hugh Clough, volume 2 (1869).djvu/23



went wrong, Grievously wrong, but folly crushed itself, And vanity o'ertoppling fell, and time And healthy discipline and some neglect, Labour and solitary hours revived Somewhat, at least, of that original frame. Oh, well do I remember then the days When on some grassy slope (what time the sun Was sinking, and the solemn eve came down With its blue vapour upon field and wood And elm-embosomed spire) once more again I fed on sweet emotion, and my heart With love o'erflowed, or hushed itself in fear Unearthly, yea celestial. Once again My heart was hot within me, and, me seemed, I too had in my body breath to wind The magic horn of song; I too possessed Up-welling in my being's depths a fount Of the true poet-nectar whence to fill The golden urns of verse.

comest thou? shady lane, and why and how? Thou, where with idle heart, ten years ago, I wandered, and with childhood's paces slow So long unthought of, and remembered now! Again in vision clear thy pathwayed side I tread, and view thy orchard plots again With yellow fruitage hung, and glimmering grain Standing or shocked through the thick hedge espied.