SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
A Picture had it been of lasting ease, 25
Elysian quiet, without toil or strife;
No motion but the moving tide, a breeze,
Or merely silent Nature's breathing life.
Such, in the fond illusion of my heart,
Such Picture would I at that time have made : 30
And seen the soul of truth in every part,
A steadfast peace that might not be betrayed.
So once it would have been,—'tis so no more ;
I have submitted to a new control:
A power is gone, which nothing can restore; 35
A deep distress hath humanised my Soul.
Not for a moment could I now behold
A smiling sea, and be what I have b.een:
The feeling of my loss will ne'er be old;
This, which I know, I speak with mind serene. 40
Then Beaumont, Friend! who* would have befen the
Friend,
If he had lived, of Him whom I deplore,
This work of thine I blame not, but commend ;
This sea in anger, and that dismal shore.
0 'tis a passionate Work !—yet wise and well, 45
Well chosen is the spirit that is here;
That Hulk which labours in the deadly swell,
This rueful sky, this pageantry of fear I
And- this huge Castle, standing here sublime,
1 love to see the look with which it braves , 50
Cased in the unfeeling armour of old time,
The lightning, the fierce wind, and trampling waves.
78