Clarens! sweet Clarens[339] birthplace of deep Love! Thine air is the young breath of passionate Thought; Thy trees take root in Love; the snows above,[kk] The very Glaciers have his colours caught, And Sun-set into rose-hues sees them wrought[21.B.] By rays which sleep there lovingly: the rocks,[kl] The permanent crags, tell here of Love, who sought In them a refuge from the worldly shocks, Which stir and sting the Soul with Hope that woos, then mocks. C. Clarens! by heavenly feet thy paths are trod,--[km] Undying Love's, who here ascends a throne To which the steps are mountains; where the God Is a pervading Life and Light,--so shown[kn] Not on those summits solely, nor alone In the still cave and forest; o'er the flower His eye is sparkling, and his breath hath blown, His soft and summer breath, whose tender power[ko] Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour. CI. All things are here of _Him_; from the black pines,[340] Which are his shade on high, and the loud roar Of torrents, where he listeneth, to the vines Which slope his green path downward to the shore, Where the bowed Waters meet him, and adore, Kissing his feet with murmurs; and the Wood, The covert of old trees, with trunks all hoar, But light leaves, young as joy, stands where it stood,[kp] Offering to him, and his, a populous solitude. CII. A populous solitude of bees and birds, And fairy-formed and many-coloured things, Who worship him with notes more sweet than words,[kq] And innocently open their glad wings, Fearless and full of life: the gush of springs, And fall of lofty fountains, and the bend Of stirring branches, and the bud which brings The swiftest thought of Beauty, here extend Mingling--and made by Love--unto one mighty end. CIII. He who hath loved not, here would learn that lore,[341] And make his heart a spirit; he who knows That tender mystery, will love the more; For this is Love's recess, where vain men's woes, And the world's waste, have driven him far from those,[kr] For 'tis his nature to advance or die; He stands not still, but or decays, or grows Into a boundless blessing, which may vie With the immortal lights, in its eternity! CIV.