... would look down On thy ... 1820. ] [Footnote 393: 1849. ... whilst they view 1820. ] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote DV: The title in the first edition of 1820 was "To ----."--ED.] [Footnote DW: The Hamadryads were supposed not only to haunt the trees, but to live in them, and to die with them.--ED.] SEPTEMBER, 1819 Composed 1819.--Published 1820 One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED. The sylvan slopes with corn-clad fields Are hung, as if with golden shields, Bright trophies of the sun! Like a fair sister of the sky, Unruffled doth the blue lake lie, 5 The mountains looking on.[DX] And, sooth to say, yon vocal grove, Albeit uninspired by love, By love untaught to ring, May well afford to mortal ear 10 An impulse more profoundly dear Than music of the Spring. For _that_ from turbulence and heat Proceeds, from some uneasy seat In nature's struggling frame, 15 Some region of impatient life: And jealousy, and quivering strife, Therein a portion claim. This, this is holy;--while I hear These vespers of another year, 20 This hymn of thanks and praise, My spirit seems to mount above The anxieties of human love, And earth's precarious days. But list!--though winter storms be nigh, 25 Unchecked is that soft harmony; There lives Who can provide For all His creatures; and in Him, Even like the radiant Seraphim, These choristers confide. 30 See the Fenwick note to the second of the two _Odes to Lycoris_. This poem and the next in order are "the two that follow," referred to in that note as "composed in front of Rydal Mount, and during my walks in the neighbourhood." Note the eulogy of Spring, and (comparative) disparagement of Autumn, in _Lycoris_; and the complimentary truth, in reference to Autumn, brought out in this fragment.--ED. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote DX: Rydal Mere. Compare the _Ode to Lycoris_ (pp. 145-148).--ED.] UPON THE SAME OCCASION Composed 1819.--Published 1820 One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED. Departing summer hath assumed An aspect tenderly illumed, The gentlest look of spring; That calls from yonder leafy shade Unfaded, yet prepared to fade, 5 A timely carolling. No faint and hesitating trill, Such tribute as to winter chill The lonely redbreast pays! Clear, loud, and lively is the din, 10 From social warblers gathering in Their harvest of sweet lays.