XVII
TO THE PLANET VENUS, AN EVENING STAR
COMPOSED AT LOCH LOMOND
Though joy attend Thee orient at the birth
Of dawn, it cheers the lofty spirit most
To watch thy course when Day-light, fled from earth,
In the grey sky hath left his lingering Ghost,
Perplexed as if between a splendour lost 5
And splendour slowly mustering. Since the Sun,
The absolute, the world-absorbing One,
Relinquished half his empire to the host
Emboldened by thy guidance, holy Star,
Holy as princely, who that looks on thee 10
Touching, as now, in thy humility
The mountain borders of this seat of care,
Can question that thy countenance is bright,
Celestial Power, as much with love as light?
XVIII
BOTHWELL CASTLE
(PASSED UNSEEN, ON ACCOUNT OF STORMY WEATHER)
[In my Sister's Journal is an account of Bothwell Castle as it appeared to us at that time.—I.F.]
Immured in Bothwell's Towers, at times the Brave
(So beautiful is Clyde) forgot to mourn
The liberty they lost at Bannockburn.
Once on those steeps I roamed[719] at large, and have
In mind the landscape, as if still in sight; 5
The river glides, the woods before me wave;
Then why repine that now in vain I crave[720]
Needless renewal of an old delight?
Better to thank a dear and long-past day
For joy its sunny hours were free to give 10
Than blame the present, that our wish hath crost.
Memory, like sleep, hath powers which dreams obey,
Dreams, vivid dreams, that are not fugitive:
How little that she cherishes is lost!