Andromeda, and Other Poems/Palinodia
PALINODIA. 1841.
YE mountains, on whose torrent-furrowed slopes,And bare and silent brows uplift to heaven,I envied oft the soul which fills your wastesOf pure and stern sublime, and still expanseUnbroken by the petty incidentsOf noisy life: Oh hear me once again!
Winds, upon whose racked eddies, far aloft,Above the murmur of the uneasy world,My thoughts in exultation held their way:Whose tremulous whispers through the rustling gladeWere once to me unearthly tones of love,Joy without object, wordless music, stealingThrough all my soul, until my pulse beat fastWith aimless hope, and unexpressed desire— Thou sea, who wast to me a prophet deepThrough all thy restless waves, and wasting shores,Of silent labour, and eternal change;First teacher of the dense immensityOf ever-stirring life, in thy strange formsOf fish, and shell, and worm, and oozy weed:To me alike thy frenzy and thy sleepHave been a deep and breathless joy: Oh hear!
Mountains, and winds, and waves, take back your child!Upon thy balmy bosom, Mother Nature,Where my young spirit dreamt its years away,Give me once more to nestle: I have strayedFar through another world, which is not thine.Through sunless cities, and the weary hauntsOf smoke-grimed labour, and foul revelryMy flagging wing has swept. A mateless bird'sMy pilgrimage has been; through sin, and doubt,And darkness, seeking love. Oh hear me, Nature!Receive me once again: but not alone; No more alone, Great Mother! I have broughtOne who has wandered, yet not sinned, like me.Upon thy lap, twin children, let us lie;And in the light of thine immortal eyesLet our souls mingle, till The Father callsTo some eternal home the charge He gives thee.