©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

FOREST AND CAVERN 179
Thy presence-thou hast looked on me with love,
-Hast given me empire o'er majestic Nature;
Power to enjoy and feel! 'Twas not alone
The stranger's short permitted privilege
Of momentary wonder that thou gavest;
No, thou hast given me into her deep breast
As into a friend's secret heart to look;
Hast brought to me the tribes of living things:
Thus teaching me to recognize and love
My brothers in still grove, or air, or stream.
And when in the wide wood the tempest raves,
And shrieks, and rends the giant pines, uproots,
Disbranches, and, with maddening grasp uplifting,
Flings them to earth, and from the hollow hill
Dull moaning thunders echo their descent;
Then dost thou lead me to the safe retreat
Of some low cavern, there exhibiting
To my awed soul its own mysterious nature!
Of my own heart the depths miraculous,
Its secret inward being all exposed!
And when before my eye the pure moon walks
High overhead, diffusing a soft light,
Then from the rocks, and over the damp wood,
The pale bright shadows of the ancient times
Before me seem to move, and mitigate
The too severe delight of earnest thought!-
Alas! even now I feel MAN'S joys must be
Imperfect ever. The ecstatic bliss,
Which lifts me near and nearer to the gods;
This is thy gift; but with it thou hast give~,
Inseparably linked, this vile associate,
Whom I abominate, but cannot part:-
Cold, insolent, malicious, he contrives
To make me to myself contemptible;
And with a breath will scatter into nothing
All these high gifts; with what officious zeal
lIe fans my breast into a raging flame
Of passion, to possess that perfect form
OJ loveliness! Thus, from desire I pase
N2
©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia