Poem by Maria Jane Jewsbury

Stanzas

Why should we thus with an untoward mind,
And in the weakness of humanity,
From natural wisdom turn our hearts away,
To natural comfort shut our eyes and ears,
And feeding on disquiet, thus disturb
The calm of nature with our restless thoughts?

                                    Wordsworth.

I SAW rich roses springing
With queen-like heads and fair;
I heard the thrush far flinging
His shower of song through air;
And kindly voices ringing,
What did I then with care?
The noontide radiance streaming,
Through bowering chestnuts played,
But brighter and gayer gleaming,
Than all by the sun-light made,
I saw a fond heart's dreaming
Light up a dark eye's shade.
The world was nought there showing
But summer, and youth, and love;
Around, all bright flowers growing,
A still, bright sky above,
And the wind's low murmur flowing
Through the leaves, like the note of the dove.
Yet I stood there in gloom and sadness,
Mine, the sole shadow there,
For the vision of long-past gladness
Is a present grief to bear,
And the yearning of heart is madness,
One only is left to share!

1. The Oceanides. No. 7. The Spirit of the Cape
2. Address to Sleep
3. The Oceanides. No. 4. The Sunken Rock
4. The Aspen Leaf
5. Love’s Likeness

Laura Temple Stanzas ("Now brightly smiles the cloudless sky")

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