Poems (Hinxman)/Stanzas ("I would that my tongue could utter)
For works with similar titles, see Stanzas.
STANZAS.
"I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me:"So sang one day a wistful Bard Beside the unquiet sea.
And many a heart with him That restless burthen sings,When Memory wakes, or Nature's powers Disturb its sleeping springs.
O busy winds that run Through the tops of the troubled pines,O stately silent clouds That gather as day declines!
O lights and shades that weave Your vernal hillside dance,O mountain hosts, against the sky Reclined in solemn trance!
Silence of starry midnight, Swell of the coming storms!Ye thousand powers of joy and fear, In light, in sounds, and forms!
Ye countless Master hands Which thought and sense surround,Why do ye strike on the straining chords That quiver, and cannot sound?
Why do ye stir the founts of the soul Till they leap, and heave, and swell?And yet can from their troubled depths Bid no free current well?
Rich fancies—glorious dreams, Float through the Poet's brain;They pass, few to the world are brought Of all that radiant train.
The Painter o'er his easel frets, His powerless hands belieThe holy beauty of the Form Which charms his spirit's eye.
The Minstrel pauses, strikes again His lute with earnest fingers,—Sweet are the strains, but the sweetest note In his heart of hearts still lingers.
They strive,—but only snatch the flowers That rock upon the waves,Far down the jewels still repose, In dark, unfathomed caves.
Yet better so, better to' bear The weight of thoughts untold,Too deep to reach—too swift and strong For verbal chains to hold—
Than drain the fount till its worn bed Can no fresh current send,—Than measure out the spirit's powers, Than count, and find an end!
Oct. 6. 1844.