Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Amulet, 1829/The Themes of Song
THE THEMES OF SONG.
BY MRS. HEMANS.
Of truth, of grandeur, beauty, love, and hope,
And melancholy fear subdued by faith.
Wordsworth.
Where shall the minstrel find a theme?
Where'er, for freedom shed,
Brave blood hath dyed some ancient stream
Amidst the mountains, red.
Where'er a rock, a fount, a grove,
Bears record to the faith
Of love, deep, holy, fervent love,
Victor of fear and death.
Where'er a spire points up to Heaven,
Through storm and summer air,
Telling that all around have striven,
Man's heart, and hope, and prayer.
Where'er a chieftain's crested brow
In its pride hath been struck down,
Or a bright-haired virgin head laid low,
Wearing its youth's first crown.
Where'er a home and hearth have been,
That now are man's no more;
A place of ivy, freshly green,
Where laughter's light is o'er.
Where'er, by some forsaken grave,
Some nameless greensward heap,
A bird may sing, a violet wave,
A star its vigil keep;
Or where a yearning heart of old,
Or a dream of shepherd men,
With forms of more than earthly mould,
Hath peopled grot or glen.
There may the bard's high themes be found—
We die, we pass away;
But faith, love, pity—these are bound
To earth without decay.
The heart that burns, the cheek that glows,
The tear from hidden springs,
The thorn, and glory of the rose—
These are undying things.
Wave after wave of mighty stream,
To the deep sea hath gone;
Yet not the less, like youth's bright dream,
Th' exhaustless flood rolls on.