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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=391598" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Domestic Affections</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHENCE are those tranquil joys, in mercy giv'n,<br>To light the wilderness with beams of Heav'n?<br>To sooth our cares, and thro' the cloud diffuse,<br>Their tempered sun-shine, and celestial hues?<br>Those pure delights, ordain'd on life to throw<br>Gleams of the bliss ethereal natures know?<br>Say, do they grace Ambition's regal throne,<br>When kneeling myriads call the world his own?<br>Or dwell with luxury, in th' enchanted bow'rs,<br>Where taste and wealth exert creative pow'rs? </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Favor'd of Heav'n! O Genius! are they thine,<br>When round thy brow the wreaths of glory shine;<br>While rapture gazes on thy radiant way,<br>'Midst the bright realms of clear and mental day?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No! sacred joys! 'tis yours to dwell enshrin'd,<br>Most fondly cherish'd, in the purest mind;<br>To twine with flowers, those lov'd, endearing ties,<br>On earth so sweet,—so perfect in the skies!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nurs'd on the lap of solitude and shade,<br>The violet smiles, embosom'd in the glade;<br>There sheds her spirit on the lonely gale,<br>Gem of seclusion! treasure of the vale!<br>Thus, far retir'd from life's tumultuous road,<br>Domestic bliss has fix'd her calm abode,<br>Where hallow'd innocence and sweet repose<br>May strew her shadowy path with many a rose:<br>As, when dread thunder shakes the troubled sky,<br>The cherub, infancy, can close its eye,<br>And sweetly smile, unconscious of a tear,<br>While viewless angels wave their pinions near;<br>Thus, while around the storms of discord roll,<br>Borne on resistless wing, from pole to pole;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While war's red lightnings desolate the ball,<br>And thrones and empires in destruction fall;<br>Then, calm as evening on the silvery wave,<br>When the wind slumbers in the ocean-cave,<br>She dwells, unruffled, in her bow'r of rest,<br>Her empire, home!—her throne, affection's breast! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">For her, sweet nature wears her loveliest blooms,<br>And softer sun-shine ev'ry scene illumes.<br>When spring awakes the spirit of the breeze,<br>Whose light wing undulates the sleeping seas;<br>When summer, waving her creative wand,<br>Bids verdure smile, and glowing life expand;<br>Or autumn's pencil sheds, with magic trace,<br>O'er fading loveliness, a moon-light grace;<br>Oh! still for her, thro' Nature's boundless reign,<br>No charm is lost, no beauty blooms in vain;<br>While mental peace, o'er ev'ry prospect bright,<br>Throws mellowing tints, and harmonizing light!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lo! borne on clouds, in rushing might sublime,<br>Stern winter, bursting from the polar clime,<br>Triumphant waves his signal-torch on high,<br>The blood-red meteor of the northern sky!<br>And high thro' darkness rears his giant-form,<br>His throne, the billow!—and his flag, the storm!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet then, when bloom and sun-shine are no more,<br>And the wild surges foam along the shore;<br>Domestic bliss! thy heaven is still serene, <br>Thy star, unclouded, and thy myrtle, green!<br>Thy fane of rest no raging storms invade, <br>Sweet peace is thine, the seraph of the shade!<br>Clear thro' the day, her light around thee glows,<br>And gilds the midnight of thy deep repose!<br>Hail, sacred home! where soft Affection's hand,<br>With flow'rs of Eden twines her magic band!<br>Where pure and bright, the social ardors rise,<br>Concentring all their holiest energies!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When wasting toil has dimm'd the vital flame,<br>And ev'ry power deserts the sinking frame;<br>Exhausted nature still from sleep implores<br>The charm that lulls, the manna that restores!<br>Thus, when oppress'd with rude tumultuous cares,<br>To thee, sweet home! the fainting mind repairs;<br>Still to thy breast, a wearied pilgrim, flies,<br>Her ark of refuge from uncertain skies!<br>Bower of repose! when torn from all we love,<br>Thro' toil we struggle, or thro' distance rove;<br>To thee we turn, still faithful, from afar, <br>Thee, our bright vista! thee, our magnet-star!<br>And from the martial field, the troubled sea,<br>Unfetter'd thought still roves to bliss and thee!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When ocean-sounds in awful slumber die,<br>No wave to murmur, and no gale to sigh;<br>Wide o'er the world, when peace and midnight reign,<br>And the moon trembles on the sleeping main;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At that still hour, the sailor wakes to keep,<br>'Midst the dead calm, the vigil of the deep!<br>No gleaming shores his dim horizon hound,<br>All heaven—and sea—and solitude—around!<br>Then, from the lonely deck, the silent helm,<br>From the wide grandeur of the shadowy realm;<br>Still homeward borne, his fancy unconfin'd,<br>Leaving the worlds of ocean far behind,<br>Wings like a meteor-flash her swift career,<br>To the lov'd scene, so distant, and so dear!<br>Lo! the rude whirlwind rushes from its cave,<br>And danger frowns—the monarch of the wave!<br>Lo! rocks and storms the striving bark repel,<br>And death and shipwreck ride the foaming swell!<br>Child of the ocean! is thy bier the surge,<br>Thy grave the billow, and the wind thy dirge?<br>Yes! thy long toils, thy weary conflicts o'er,<br>No storm shall wake, no perils rouse thee more!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet, in that solemn hour, that awful strife, <br>The struggling agony for death or life;<br>E'en then, thy mind, embitt'ring ev'ry pain, <br>Retrac'd the image so belov'd—in vain!<br>Still to sweet home, thy last regrets were true, <br>Life's parting sigh—the murmur of adieu!<br>Can war's dread scenes the hallow'd ties efface,<br>Each tender thought, each fond remembrance chase?<br>Can fields of carnage, days of toil, destroy<br>The lov'd impressions of domestic joy?<br>Ye day-light dreams! that cheer the soldier's breast,<br>In hostile climes, with spells benign and blest;<br>Sooth his brave heart, and shed your glowing ray,<br>O'er the long march, thro' desolation's way;<br>Oh! still ye bear him from th' ensanguin'd plain,<br>Armour's bright flash, and victory's choral strain;<br>To that lov'd home, where pure affection glows,<br>That shrine of bliss! asylum of repose!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When all is hush'd—the rage of combat past,<br>And no dread war-note swells the moaning blast;<br>When the warm throb of many a heart is o'er,<br>And many an eye is clos'd—to wake no more;<br>Lull'd by the night-wind, pillow'd on the ground,<br>(The dewy death-bed of his comrades round!)<br>While o'er the slain the tears of midnight weep,<br>Faint with fatigue, he sinks in slumbers deep!<br>E'en then, soft visions, hov'ring round, portray,<br>The cherish'd forms that o'er his bosom sway!<br>He sees fond transport light each beaming face,<br>Meets the warm tear-drop, and the long embrace!<br>While the sweet welcome vibrates thro' his heart,<br>'Hail, weary soldier! —never more to part!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, lo! at last, releas'd from ev'ry toil,<br>He comes! the wanderer views his native soil!<br>Then the bright raptures, words can never speak, <br>Flash in his eye, and mantle o'er his cheek!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then love and friendship, whose unceasing pray'r,<br>Implor'd for him, each guardian-spirit's care;<br>Who, for his fate, thro' sorrow's lingering year,<br>Had prov'd each thrilling pulse of hope and fear;<br>In that blest moment, all the past forget,<br>Hours of suspense! and vigils of regret!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, oh! for him, the child of rude alarms,<br>Rear'd by stern danger, in the school of arms;<br>How sweet to change the war-song's pealing note,<br>For woodland-sounds, in summer-air that float!<br>Thro' vales of peace, o'er mountain-wilds to roam,<br>And breathe his native gales, that whisper—'Home!'<br>Hail! sweet endearments of domestic ties,<br>Charms of existence! angel-sympathies!<br>Tho' pleasure smile, a soft, Circassian queen!<br>And guide her votaries thro' a fairy scene;<br>Where sylphid forms beguile their vernal hours,<br>With mirth and music, in Arcadian bow'rs;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tho' gazing nations hail the fiery car,<br>That bears the son of conquest from afar;<br>While Fame's loud Pæan bids his heart rejoice,<br>And ev'ry life-pulse vibrates to her voice;<br>Yet from your source alone, in mazes bright, <br>Flows the full current of serene delight!<br>On Freedom's wing, that ev'ry wild explores,<br>Thro' realms of space, th' aspiring eagle soars!<br>Darts o'er the clouds, exulting to admire,<br>Meridian glory—on her throne of fire!<br>Bird of the sun! his keen, unwearied gaze,<br>Hails the full noon, and triumphs in the blaze!<br>But soon, descending from his height sublime,<br>Day's burning fount, and light's empyreal clime;<br>Once more he speeds to joys more calmly blest,<br>'Midst the dear inmates of his lonely nest!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus Genius, mounting on his bright career,<br>Thro' the wide regions of the mental sphere;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And proudly waving, in his gifted hand,<br>O'er Fancy's worlds, Invention's plastic wand;<br>Fearless and firm, with lightning-eye surveys<br>The clearest heav'n of intellectual rays!<br>Yet, on his course tho' loftiest hopes attend,<br>And kindling raptures aid him to ascend;<br>(While in his mind, with high-born grandeur fraught,<br>Dilate the noblest energies of thought <br>Still, from the bliss, ethereal and refin'd,<br>Which crowns the soarings of triumphant mind,<br>At length he flies, to that serene retreat,<br>Where calm and pure, the mild affections meet;<br>Embosom'd there, to feel and to impart,<br>The softer pleasures of the social heart!<br>Ah! weep for those, deserted and forlorn,<br>From ev'ry tie, by fate relentless torn!<br>See, on the barren coast, the lonely isle,<br>Mark'd with no step, uncheer'd by human smile;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Heart-sick and faint, the shipwreck'd wanderer stand,<br>Raise the dim eye, and lift the suppliant hand!<br>Explore with fruitless gaze the billowy main,<br>And weep—and pray—and linger!—but in vain!<br>Thence, roving wild thro' many a depth of shade!<br>Where voice ne'er echo'd, footstep never stray'd;<br>He fondly seeks, o'er cliffs and deserts rude,<br>Haunts of mankind, 'midst realms of solitude!<br>And pauses oft, and sadly hears alone,<br>The wood's deep sigh, the surge's distant moan!<br>All else is hush'd! so silent, so profound,<br>As if some viewless power, presiding round,<br>With mystic spell, unbroken by a breath,<br>Had spread for ages the repose of death!<br>Ah! still the wanderer, by the boundless deep,<br>Lives but to watch,—and watches but to weep!<br>He sees no sail in faint perspective rise,<br>His the dread loneliness of sea and skies!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Far from his cherish'd friends, his native shore,<br>Banish'd from being—to return no more;<br>There must he die!—within that circling wave,<br>That lonely isle—his prison and his grave!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lo! thro' the waste, the wilderness of snows,<br>With fainting step, Siberia's exile goes!<br>Homeless and sad, o'er many a polar wild,<br>Where beam, or flower, or verdure, never smil'd;<br>Where frost and silence hold their despot-reign,<br>And bind existence in eternal chain!<br>Child of the desert! pilgrim of the gloom!<br>Dark is the path which leads thee to the tomb!<br>While on thy faded cheek, the arctic air<br>Congeals the bitter tear-drop of despair!<br>Yet not, that fate condemns thy closing day,<br>In that stern clime, to shed its parting ray;<br>Not that fair Nature's loveliness find light,<br>No more shall beam enchantment on thy sight;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ah! not for this, far, far beyond relief, <br>Deep in thy bosom dwells the hopeless grief;<br>But that no friend of kindred heart is there,<br>Thy woes to meliorate, thy toils to share;<br>That no mild soother fondly shall assuage<br>The stormy trials of thy lingering age;<br>No smile of tenderness, with angel-power,<br>Lull the dread pangs of dissolution's hour;<br>For this alone, despair, a withering guest,<br>Sits on thy brow, and cankers in thy breast!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yes! there, e'en there, in that tremendous clime,<br>Where desert-grandeur frowns, in pomp sublime;<br>Where winter triumphs, thro' the polar night,<br>In all his wild magnificence of might;<br>E'en there, Affection's hallow'd spell might pour, <br>The light of heav'n around th' inclement shore!<br>And, like the vales with bloom and sun-shine grac'd,<br>That smile, by circling Pyrennees embrac'd,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Teach the pure heart, with vital fires to glow,<br>E'en 'midst the world of solitude and snow!<br>The Halcyon's charm, thus dreaming fictions feign,<br>With mystic power, could tranquillize the main;<br>Bid the loud wind, the mountain-billow sleep,<br>And peace and silence brood upon the deep!<br>And thus, Affection, can thy voice compose <br>The stormy tide of passions and of woes;<br>Bid every throb of wild emotion cease,<br>And lull misfortune in the arms of peace!<br>Oh! mark yon drooping form, of aged mien,<br>Wan, yet resign'd, and hopeless, yet serene!<br>Long ere victorious time had sought to chase<br>The bloom, the smile, that once illum'd his face;<br>That faded eye was dimm'd with many a care,<br>Those waving locks were silver'd by despair!<br>Yet filial love can pour the sovereign balm,<br>Assuage his pangs, his wounded spirit calm!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He, a sad emigrant! condemn'd to roam<br>In life's pale autumn from his ruin'd home;<br>Has borne the shock of peril's darkest wave,<br>Where joy—and hope—and fortune—found a grave!<br>'Twas his, to see destruction's fiercest band,<br>Rush, like a TYPHON, on his native land,<br>And roll, triumphant, on their blasted way,<br>In fire and blood—the deluge of dismay!<br>Unequal combat rag'd on many a plain,<br>And patriot-valour wav'd the sword—in vain!<br>Ah! gallant exile! nobly, long, he bled,<br>Long brav'd the tempest gath'ring o'er his head!<br>Till all was lost! and horror's darkening eye,<br>Rous'd the stern spirit of despair—to die!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ah! gallant exile! in the storm that roll'd<br>Far o'er his country, rushing uncontroll'd;<br>The flowers that grac'd his path with loveliest bloom,<br>Torn by the blast—were scatter'd on the tomb!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When carnage burst, exulting in the strife,<br>The bosom ties that bound his soul to life;<br>Yet one was spar'd! and she, whose filial smile,<br>Can sooth his wanderings, and his tears beguile,<br>E'en then, could temper, with divine relief, <br>The wild delirium of unbounded grief;<br>And whisp'ring peace, conceal, with duteous art,<br>Her own deep sorrows in her inmost heart!<br>And now, tho' time, subduing ev'ry trace,<br>Has mellow'd all, he never can erase;<br>Oft will the wanderer's tears in silence flow,<br>Still sadly faithful to remember'd woe!<br>Then she, who feels a father's pang alone,<br>(Still fondly struggling to suppress her own <br>With anxious tenderness is ever nigh,<br>To chase the image that awakes the sigh!<br>Her angel-voice his hinting soul can raise<br>To brighter visions of celestial days!<br>And speak of realms, where virtue's wing shall soar<br>On eagle-plume—to wonder and adore!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And friends, divided here, shall meet at last,<br>Unite their kindred souls—and smile on all the past!<br>Yes! we may hope, that Nature's deathless ties,<br>Renew'd, refin'd—shall triumph in the skies!<br>Heart-soothing thought! whose lov'd, consoling pow'r,<br>With seraph-dreams can gild reflection's hour;<br>Oh! still be near! and bright'ning thro' the gloom,<br>Beam and ascend! the day-star of the tomb!<br>And smile for those, in sternest ordeals prov'd,<br>Those lonely hearts, bereft of all they lov'd!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lo! by the couch, where pain and chill disease,<br>In ev'ry vein the ebbing life-blood freeze;<br>Where youth is taught, by stealing, slow decay,<br>Life's closing lesson—in its dawning day;<br>Where beauty's rose is with'ring ere its prime,<br>Unchang'd by sorrow—and unsoil'd by time;<br>There, bending still, with fix'd and sleepless eye,<br>There, from her child, the mother learns—to die!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Explores, with fearful gaze, each mournful trace<br>Of ling'ring sickness in the faded face;<br>Thro' the sad night, when ev'ry hope is fled,<br>Keeps her lone vigil by the suff'rer's bed;<br>And starts each morn, as deeper marks declare<br>The spoiler's hand—the blight of death—is there!<br>He comes! now feebly in th' exhausted frame,<br>Slow, languid, quiv'ring, burns the vital flame!<br>From the glaz'd eye-ball sheds its parting ray,<br>Dim, transient spark! that flutt'ring, fades away!<br>Faint beats the hov'ring pulse, the trembling heart,<br>Yet fond existence lingers—ere she part!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Tis past! the struggle and the pang are o'er,<br>And life shall throb with agony no more!<br>While o'er the wasted form, the features pale,<br>Death's awful shadows throw their silvery veil!<br>Departed spirit! on this earthly sphere,<br>Tho' poignant suff'ring mark'd thy short career;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Still could maternal love beguile thy woes,<br>And hush thy sighs—an angel of repose!<br>But who may charm her sleepless pang to rest, <br>Or draw the thorn that rankles in her breast?<br>And while she bends in silence o'er thy bier,<br>Assuage the grief, too heart-sick for a tear?<br>Visions of hope! in loveliest hues array'd,<br>Fair scenes of bliss! by Fancy's hand portray'd;<br>And were ye doom'd, with false, illusive smile,<br>With flatt'ring promise, to enchant awhile?<br>And are ye vanish'd, never to return,<br>Set in the darkness of the mouldering urn?<br>Will no bright hour departed joys restore?<br>Shall the sad parent meet her child no more;<br>Behold no more the soul-illumin'd face,<br>Th' expressive smile, the animated grace?<br>Must the fair blossom, wither'd in the tomb,<br>Revive no more in loveliness and bloom?—</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Descend, blest Faith! dispel the hopeless care,<br>And chase the gathering phantoms of despair!<br>Tell, that the flow'r, transplanted in its morn,<br>Enjoys bright Eden, freed from every thorn;<br>Expands to milder suns, and softer dews;<br>The full perfection of immortal hues!<br>Tell, that when mounting to her native skies,<br>By death releas'd, the parent-spirit flies;<br>There shall the child, in anguish mourn'd so long,<br>With rapture hail her, 'midst the cherub-throng;<br>And guide her pinion, on exulting flight,<br>Thro' glory's boundless realms, and worlds of living light!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ye gentle spirits of departed friends!<br>If e'er on earth your buoyant wing descends;<br>If, with benignant care; ye linger near,<br>To guard the objects in existence dear;<br>If hov'ring o'er, ethereal band! ye view<br>The tender sorrows, to your memory true; </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh! in the musing hour, at midnight deep,<br>While for your loss Affection wakes to weep;<br>While ev'ry sound in hallow'd stillness lies,<br>But the low murmur of her plaintive sighs;<br>Oh! then, amidst that holy calm, be near!<br>Breathe your light whisper softly in her ear!<br>With secret spells, her wounded mind compose,<br>And chase the faithful tear—for you that flows!<br>Be near! when moon-light spreads the charm you lov'd,<br>O'er scenes where once your earthly footstep rov'd! <br>Then, while she wanders o'er the sparkling dew,<br>Thro' glens, and wood-paths, once endear'd by you;<br>And fondly lingers, in your fav'rite bow'rs,<br>And pauses oft, recalling former hours;<br>Then wave your pinion o'er each well-known vale,<br>Float in the moon-beam, sigh upon the gale!<br>Bid your wild symphonies remotely swell,<br>Borne by the summer-wind, from grot and dell;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And touch your viewless harps, and sooth her soul,<br>With soft enchantments and divine control!<br>Be near! sweet guardians! watch her sacred rest,<br>When slumber folds her in his magic vest!<br>Around her, smiling, let your forms arise<br>Return'd in dreams, to bless her mental eyes!<br>Efface the mem'ry of your last farewell,<br>Of glowing joys, of radiant prospects, tell!<br>The sweet communion of the past, renew,<br>Reviving former scenes, array'd in softer hue!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Be near, when death, in virtue's brightest hour,<br>Calls up each pang, and summons all his pow'r!<br>Oh! then, transcending Fancy's loveliest dream,<br>Then let your forms, unveil'd, around her beam!<br>Then waft the vision of unclouded light,<br>A burst of glory, on her closing sight!<br>Wake from the harp of heav'n th' immortal strain,<br>To hush the final agonies of pain!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With rapture's flame, the parting soul illume,<br>And smile triumphant thro' the shadowy gloom!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh! still be near! when, darting into day,<br>Th' exulting spirit leaves her bonds of clay;<br>Be yours to guide her flutt'ring wing on high,<br>O'er many a world, ascending to the sky!<br>There let your presence, once her earthly joy,<br>Tho' dimm'd with tears, and clouded with alloy;<br>Now form her bliss on that celestial shore,<br>Where death shall sever kindred hearts no more!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yes! in the noon of that Elysian clime,<br>Beyond the sphere of anguish, death, or time;<br>Where mind's bright eye, with renovated fire,<br>Shall beam on glories—never to expire;<br>Oh! there, th' illumin'd soul may fondly trust,<br>More pure, more perfect, rising from the dust;<br>Those mild affections, whose consoling light<br>Sheds the soft moon-beam on terrestrial night;<br>Sublim'd, ennobled, shall for ever glow,<br>Exalting rapture—not assuaging woe!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Felicia+Dorothea+Hemans">Felicia Dorothea Hemans</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=391598" data-title="The Domestic Affections de Felicia Dorothea Hemans" data-description="WHENCE are those tranquil joys, in mercy giv'n,
To light the wilderness with beams of Heav'n?
To sooth our cares, and thro' the cloud diffuse,
Their tempered sun-shine, and celestial hues?
Those pure delights, ordain'd on life to throw
Gleams of t..."></div>
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