<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=416363" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Winter</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">SEE! Winter comes, to rule the varied Year, Sullen, and sad; with all his rising Train,<br>Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms: Be these my Theme,<br>These, that exalt the Soul to solemn Thought,<br>And heavenly musing. Welcome kindred Glooms! <br>Wish'd, wint'ry, Horrors, hail! - With frequent Foot,<br>Pleas'd, have I, in my cheerful Morn of Life,<br>When, nurs'd by careless Solitude, I liv'd,<br>And sung of Nature with unceasing Joy,<br>Pleas'd, have I wander'd thro' your rough Domains; <br>Trod the pure, virgin, Snows, my self as pure:<br>Heard the Winds roar, and the big Torrent burst:<br>Or seen the deep, fermenting, Tempest brew'd,<br>In the red, evening, Sky. - Thus pass'd the Time,<br>Till, thro' the opening Chambers of the South, <br>Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd.<br>THEE too, Inspirer of the toiling Swain!<br>Fair AUTUMN, yellow rob'd! I'll sing of thee,<br>Of thy last, temper'd, Days, and sunny Calms;<br>When all the golden Hours are on the Wing, <br>Attending thy Retreat, and round thy Wain,<br>Slow-rolling, onward to the Southern Sky.<br>BEHOLD! the well-pois'd Hornet, hovering, hangs,<br>With quivering Pinions, in the genial Blaze;<br>Flys off, in airy Circles: then returns, <br>And hums, and dances to the beating Ray.<br>Nor shall the Man, that, musing, walks alone,<br>And, heedless, strays within his radiant Lists,<br>Go unchastis'd away. - Sometimes, a Fleece<br>Of Clouds, wide-scattering, with a lucid Veil, <br>Soft, shadow o'er th'unruffled Face of Heaven;<br>And, thro' their dewy Sluices, shed the Sun,<br>With temper'd Influence down. Then is the Time,<br>For those, whom Wisdom, and whom Nature charm,<br>To steal themselves from the degenerate Croud, <br>And soar above this little Scene of Things:<br>To tread low-thoughted Vice beneath their Feet:<br>To lay their Passions in a gentle Calm,<br>And woo lone Quiet, in her silent Walks.<br>NOW, solitary, and in pensive Guise, <br>Oft, let me wander o'er the russet Mead,<br>Or thro' the pining Grove; where scarce is heard<br>One dying Strain, to chear the Woodman's Toil:<br>Sad Philomel, perchance, pours forth her Plaint,<br>Far, thro' the withering Copse. Mean while, the Leaves, <br>That, late, the Forest clad with lively Green,<br>Nipt by the drizzly Night, and Sallow-hu'd,<br>Fall, wavering, thro' the Air; or shower amain,<br>Urg'd by the Breeze, that sobs amid the Boughs.<br>Then list'ning Hares forsake the rusling Woods, <br>And, starting at the frequent Noise, escape<br>To the rough Stubble, and the rushy Fen.<br>Then Woodcocks, o'er the fluctuating Main,<br>That glimmers to the Glimpses of the Moon,<br>Stretch their long Voyage to the woodland Glade: <br>Where, wheeling with uncertain Flight, they mock<br>The nimble Fowler's Aim. - Now Nature droops;<br>Languish the living Herbs, with pale Decay:<br>And all the various Family of Flowers<br>Their sunny Robes resign. The falling Fruits, <br>Thro' the still Night, forsake the Parent-Bough,<br>That, in the first, grey, Glances of the Dawn,<br>Looks wild, and wonders at the wintry Waste.<br>THE Year, yet pleasing, but declining fast,<br>Soft, o'er the secret Soul, in gentle Gales, <br>A Philosophic Melancholly breathes,<br>And bears the swelling Thought aloft to Heaven.<br>Then forming Fancy rouses to conceive,<br>What never mingled with the Vulgar's Dream:<br>Then wake the tender Pang, the pitying Tear, <br>The Sigh for suffering Worth, the Wish prefer'd<br>For Humankind, the Joy to see them bless'd,<br>And all the Social Off-spring of the Heart!<br>OH! bear me then to high, embowering, Shades;<br>To twilight Groves, and visionary Vales; <br>To weeping Grottos, and to hoary Caves;<br>Where Angel-Forms are seen, and Voices heard,<br>Sigh'd in low Whispers, that abstract the Soul,<br>From outward Sense, far into Worlds remote.<br>NOW, when the Western Sun withdraws the Day, <br>And humid Evening, gliding o'er the Sky,<br>In her chill Progress, checks the straggling Beams,<br>And robs them of their gather'd, vapoury, Prey,<br>Where Marshes stagnate, and where Rivers wind,<br>Cluster the rolling Fogs, and swim along <br>The dusky-mantled Lawn: then slow descend,<br>Once more to mingle with their Watry Friends.<br>The vivid Stars shine out, in radiant Files;<br>And boundless Ether glows, till the fair Moon<br>Shows her broad Visage, in the crimson'd East; <br>Now, stooping, seems to kiss the passing Cloud:<br>Now, o'er the pure Cerulean, rides sublime.<br>Wide the pale Deluge floats, with silver Waves,<br>O'er the sky'd Mountain, to the low-laid Vale;<br>From the white Rocks, with dim Reflexion, gleams, <br>And faintly glitters thro' the waving Shades.<br>ALL Night, abundant Dews, unnoted, fall,<br>And, at Return of Morning, silver o'er<br>The Face of Mother-Earth; from every Branch<br>Depending, tremble the translucent Gems, <br>And, quivering, seem to fall away, yet cling,<br>And sparkle in the Sun, whose rising Eye,<br>With Fogs bedim'd, portends a beauteous Day.<br>NOW, giddy Youth, whom headlong Passions fire,<br>Rouse the wild Game, and stain the guiltless Grove, <br>With Violence, and Death; yet call it Sport,<br>To scatter Ruin thro' the Realms of Love,<br>And Peace, that thinks no Ill: But These, the Muse,<br>Whose Charity, unlimited, extends<br>As wide as Nature works, disdains to sing, <br>Returning to her nobler Theme in view -<br>FOR, see! where Winter comes, himself, confest,<br>Striding the gloomy Blast. First Rains obscure<br>Drive thro' the mingling Skies, with Tempest foul;<br>Beat on the Mountain's Brow, and shake the Woods, <br>That, sounding, wave below. The dreary Plain<br>Lies overwhelm'd, and lost. The bellying Clouds<br>Combine, and deepening into Night, shut up<br>The Day's fair Face. The Wanderers of Heaven,<br>Each to his Home, retire; save those that love <br>To take their Pastime in the troubled Air,<br>And, skimming, flutter round the dimply Flood.<br>The Cattle, from th'untasted Fields, return,<br>And ask, with Meaning low, their wonted Stalls;<br>Or ruminate in the contiguous Shade: <br>Thither, the houshold, feathery, People croud,<br>The crested Cock, with all his female Train,<br>Pensive, and wet. Mean while, the Cottage-Swain<br>Hangs o'er th'enlivening Blaze, and, taleful, there,<br>Recounts his simple Frolic: Much he talks, <br>And much he laughs, nor recks the Storm that blows<br>Without, and rattles on his humble Roof.<br>AT last, the muddy Deluge pours along,<br>Resistless, roaring; dreadful down it comes<br>From the chapt Mountain, and the mossy Wild, <br>Tumbling thro' Rocks abrupt, and sounding far:<br>Then o'er the sanded Valley, floating, spreads,<br>Calm, sluggish, silent; till again constrain'd,<br>Betwixt two meeting Hills, it bursts a Way,<br>Where Rocks, and Woods o'erhang the turbid Stream. <br>There gathering triple Force, rapid, and deep,<br>It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders thro'.<br>NATURE! great Parent! whose directing Hand<br>Rolls round the Seasons of the changeful Year,<br>How mighty! how majestick are thy Works! <br>With what a pleasing Dread they swell the Soul,<br>That sees, astonish'd! and, astonish'd sings!<br>You too, ye Winds! that now begin to blow,<br>With boisterous Sweep, I raise my Voice to you.<br>Where are your Stores, ye viewless Beings! say? <br>Where your aerial Magazines reserv'd,<br>Against the Day of Tempest perilous?<br>In what untravel'd Country of the Air,<br>Hush'd in still Silence, sleep you, when 'tis calm?<br>LATE, in the louring Sky, red, fiery, Streaks <br>Begin to flush about; the reeling Clouds<br>Stagger with dizzy Aim, as doubting yet<br>Which Master to obey: while rising, slow,<br>Sad, in the Leaden-colour'd East, the Moon<br>Wears a bleak Circle round her sully'd Orb. <br>Then issues forth the Storm, with loud Control,<br>And the thin Fabrick of the pillar'd Air<br>O'erturns, at once. Prone, on th'uncertain Main,<br>Descends th'Etherial Force, and plows its Waves,<br>With dreadful Rift: from the mid-Deep, appears, <br>Surge after Surge, the rising, wat'ry, War.<br>Whitening, the angry Billows rowl immense,<br>And roar their Terrors, thro' the shuddering Soul<br>Of feeble Man, amidst their Fury caught,<br>And, dash'd upon his Fate: Then, o'er the Cliff, <br>Where dwells the Sea-Mew, unconfin'd, they fly,<br>And, hurrying, swallow up the steril Shore.<br>THE Mountain growls; and all its sturdy Sons<br>Stoop to the Bottom of the Rocks they shade:<br>Lone, on its Midnight-Side, and all aghast, <br>The dark, way-faring, Stranger, breathless, toils,<br>And climbs against the Blast -<br>Low, waves the rooted Forest, vex'd, and sheds<br>What of its leafy Honours yet remains.<br>Thus, struggling thro' the dissipated Grove, <br>The whirling Tempest raves along the Plain;<br>And, on the Cottage thacht, or lordly Dome,<br>Keen-fastening, shakes 'em to the solid Base.<br>Sleep, frighted, flies; the hollow Chimney howls,<br>The Windows rattle, and the Hinges creak. <br>THEN, too, they say, thro' all the burthen'd Air,<br>Long Groans are heard, shrill Sounds, and distant Sighs,<br>That, murmur'd by the Demon of the Night,<br>Warn the devoted Wretch of Woe, and Death!<br>Wild Uproar lords it wide: the Clouds commixt, <br>With Stars, swift-gliding, sweep along the Sky.<br>All Nature reels. - But hark! the Almighty speaks:<br>Instant, the chidden Storm begins to pant,<br>And dies, at once, into a noiseless Calm.<br>AS yet, 'tis Midnight's Reign; the weary Clouds, <br>Slow-meeting, mingle into solid Gloom:<br>Now, while the drousy World lies lost in Sleep,<br>Let me associate with the low-brow'd Night,<br>And Contemplation, her sedate Compeer;<br>Let me shake off th'intrusive Cares of Day, <br>And lay the medling Senses all aside.<br>AND now, ye lying Vanities of Life!<br>You ever-tempting, ever-cheating Train!<br>Where are you now? and what is your Amount?<br>Vexation, Disappointment, and Remorse. <br>Sad, sickening, Thought! and yet, deluded Man,<br>A Scene of wild, disjointed, Visions past,<br>And broken Slumbers, rises, still resolv'd,<br>With new-flush'd Hopes, to run your giddy Round.<br>FATHER of Light, and Life! Thou Good Supreme! <br>O! teach me what is Good! teach me thy self!<br>Save me from Folly, Vanity and Vice,<br>From every low Pursuit! and feed my Soul,<br>With Knowledge, conscious Peace, and Vertue pure,<br>Sacred, substantial, never-fading Bliss! <br>LO! from the livid East, or piercing North,<br>Thick Clouds ascend, in whose capacious Womb,<br>A vapoury Deluge lies, to Snow congeal'd:<br>Heavy, they roll their fleecy World along;<br>And the Sky saddens with th'impending Storm. <br>Thro' the hush'd Air, the whitening Shower descends,<br>At first, thin-wavering; till, at last, the Flakes<br>Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the Day,<br>With a continual Flow. See! sudden, hoar'd,<br>The Woods beneath the stainless Burden bow, <br>Blackning, along the mazy Stream it melts;<br>Earth's universal Face, deep-hid, and chill,<br>Is all one, dazzling, Waste. The Labourer-Ox<br>Stands cover'd o'er with Snow, and then demands<br>The Fruit of all his Toil. The Fowls of Heaven, <br>Tam'd by the cruel Season, croud around<br>The winnowing Store, and claim the little Boon,<br>That Providence allows. The foodless Wilds<br>Pour forth their brown Inhabitants; the Hare,<br>Tho' timorous of Heart, and hard beset <br>By Death, in various Forms, dark Snares, and Dogs,<br>And more unpitying Men, the Garden seeks,<br>Urg'd on by fearless Want. The bleating Kind<br>Eye the bleak Heavens, and next, the glistening Earth,<br>With Looks of dumb Despair; then sad, dispers'd, <br>Dig, for the wither'd Herb, thro' Heaps of Snow.<br>NOW, Shepherds, to your helpless Charge be kind;<br>Baffle the raging Year, and fill their Penns<br>With Food, at will: lodge them below the Blast,<br>And watch them strict; for from the bellowing East, <br>In this dire Season, oft the Whirlwind's Wing<br>Sweeps up the Burthen of whole wintry Plains,<br>In one fierce Blast, and o'er th'unhappy Flocks,<br>Lodg'd in the Hollow of two neighbouring Hills,<br>The billowy Tempest whelms; till, upwards urg'd, <br>The Valley to a shining Mountain swells,<br>That curls its Wreaths amid the freezing Sky.<br>NOW, all amid the Rigours of the Year,<br>In the wild Depth of Winter, while without<br>The ceaseless Winds blow keen, be my Retreat <br>A rural, shelter'd, solitary, Scene;<br>Where ruddy Fire, and beaming Tapers join<br>To chase the chearless Gloom: there let me sit,<br>And hold high Converse with the mighty Dead,<br>Sages of ancient Time, as Gods rever'd, <br>As Gods beneficent, who blest Mankind,<br>With Arts, and Arms, and humaniz'd a World,<br>Rous'd at th'inspiring Thought - I throw aside<br>The long-liv'd Volume, and, deep-musing, hail<br>The sacred Shades, that, slowly-rising, pass <br>Before my wondering Eyes - First, Socrates,<br>Truth's early Champion, Martyr for his God:<br>Solon, the next, who built his Commonweal,<br>On Equity's firm Base: Lycurgus, then,<br>Severely good, and him of rugged Rome, <br>Numa, who soften'd her rapacious Sons.<br>Cimon sweet-soul'd, and Aristides just.<br>Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in Extreme;<br>With that attemper'd Heroe, mild, and firm,<br>Who wept the Brother, while the Tyrant bled. <br>Scipio, the humane Warriour, gently brave,<br>Fair Learning's Friend; who early sought the Shade,<br>To dwell, with Innocence, and Truth, retir'd.<br>And, equal to the best, the Theban, He<br>Who, single, rais'd his Country into Fame. <br>Thousands behind, the Boast of Greece and Rome,<br>Whom Vertue owns, the Tribute of a Verse<br>Demand, but who can count the Stars of Heaven?<br>Who sing their Influence on this lower World?<br>But see who yonder comes! nor comes alone, <br>With sober State, and of majestic Mien,<br>The Sister-Muses in his Train - 'Tis He!<br>Maro! the best of Poets, and of Men!<br>Great Homer too appears, of daring Wing!<br>Parent of Song! and, equal, by his Side, <br>The British Muse, join'd Hand in Hand, they walk,<br>Darkling, nor miss their Way to Fame's Ascent.<br>Society divine! Immortal Minds!<br>Still visit thus my Nights, for you reserv'd,<br>And mount my soaring Soul to Deeds like yours. <br>Silence! thou lonely Power! the Door be thine:<br>See, on the hallow'd Hour, that none intrude,<br>Save Lycidas, the Friend, with Sense refin'd,<br>Learning digested well, exalted Faith,<br>Unstudy'd Wit, and Humour ever gay. <br>CLEAR Frost succeeds, and thro' the blew Serene,<br>For Sight too fine, th'Ætherial Nitre flies,<br>To bake the Glebe, and bind the slip'ry Flood.<br>This of the wintry Season is the Prime;<br>Pure are the Days, and lustrous are the Nights, <br>Brighten'd with starry Worlds, till then unseen.<br>Mean while, the Orient, darkly red, breathes forth<br>An Icy Gale, that, in its mid Career,<br>Arrests the bickering Stream. The nightly Sky,<br>And all her glowing Constellations pour <br>Their rigid Influence down: It freezes on<br>Till Morn, late-rising, o'er the drooping World,<br>Lifts her pale Eye, unjoyous: then appears<br>The various Labour of the silent Night,<br>The pendant Isicle, the Frost-Work fair, <br>Where thousand Figures rise, the crusted Snow,<br>Tho' white, made whiter, by the fining North.<br>On blithsome Frolics bent, the youthful Swains,<br>While every Work of Man is laid at Rest,<br>Rush o'er the watry Plains, and, shuddering, view <br>The fearful Deeps below: or with the Gun,<br>And faithful Spaniel, range the ravag'd Fields,<br>And, adding to the Ruins of the Year,<br>Distress the Feathery, or the Footed Game.<br>BUT hark! the nightly Winds, with hollow Voice, <br>Blow, blustering, from the South - the Frost subdu'd,<br>Gradual, resolves into a weeping Thaw.<br>Spotted, the Mountains shine: loose Sleet descends,<br>And floods the Country round: the Rivers swell,<br>Impatient for the Day. - Those sullen Seas, <br>That wash th'ungenial Pole, will rest no more,<br>Beneath the Shackles of the mighty North;<br>But, rousing all their Waves, resistless heave, -<br>And hark! - the length'ning Roar, continuous, runs<br>Athwart the rifted Main; at once, it bursts, <br>And piles a thousand Mountains to the Clouds!<br>Ill fares the Bark, the Wretches' last Resort,<br>That, lost amid the floating Fragments, moors<br>Beneath the Shelter of an Icy Isle;<br>While Night o'erwhelms the Sea, and Horror looks <br>More horrible. Can human Hearts endure<br>Th'assembled Mischiefs, that besiege them round:<br>Unlist'ning Hunger, fainting Weariness,<br>The Roar of Winds, and Waves, the Crush of Ice,<br>Now, ceasing, now, renew'd, with louder Rage, <br>And bellowing round the Main: Nations remote,<br>Shook from their Midnight-Slumbers, deem they hear<br>Portentous Thunder, in the troubled Sky.<br>More to embroil the Deep, Leviathan,<br>And his unweildy Train, in horrid Sport, <br>Tempest the loosen'd Brine; while, thro' the Gloom,<br>Far, from the dire, unhospitable Shore,<br>The Lyon's Rage, the Wolf's sad Howl is heard,<br>And all the fell Society of Night.<br>Yet, Providence, that ever-waking Eye <br>Looks down, with Pity, on the fruitless Toil<br>Of Mortals, lost to Hope, and lights them safe,<br>Thro' all this dreary Labyrinth of Fate.<br>'TIS done! - Dread WINTER has subdu'd the Year,<br>And reigns, tremenduous, o'er the desart Plains! <br>How dead the Vegetable Kingdom lies!<br>How dumb the Tuneful! Horror wide extends<br>His solitary Empire - Now, fond Man!<br>Behold thy pictur'd Life: pass some few Years,<br>Thy flow'ring SPRING, thy short-liv'd SUMMER's Strength, <br>Thy sober AUTUMN, fading into Age,<br>And pale, concluding, WINTER shuts thy Scene,<br>And shrouds Thee in the Grave - where now, are fled<br>Those Dreams of Greatness? those unsolid Hopes<br>Of Happiness? those Longings after Fame? <br>Those restless Cares? those busy, bustling Days?<br>Those Nights of secret Guilt? those veering Thoughts,<br>Flutt'ring 'twixt Good, and Ill, that shar'd thy Life?<br>All, now, are vanish'd! Vertue, sole, survives,<br>Immortal, Mankind's never-failing Friend, <br>His Guide to Happiness on high - and see!<br>'Tis come, the Glorious Morn! the second Birth<br>Of Heaven, and Earth! - awakening Nature hears<br>Th'Almighty Trumpet's Voice, and starts to Life,<br>Renew'd, unfading. Now, th'Eternal Scheme, <br>That Dark Perplexity, that Mystic Maze,<br>Which Sight cou'd never trace, nor Heart conceive,<br>To Reason's Eye, refin'd, clears up apace.<br>Angels, and Men, astonish'd, pause - and dread<br>To travel thro' the Depths of Providence, <br>Untry'd, unbounded. Ye vain Learned! see,<br>And, prostrate in the Dust, adore that Power,<br>And Goodness, oft arraign'd. See now the Cause,<br>Why conscious Worth, oppress'd, in secret long<br>Mourn'd, unregarded: Why the Good Man's Share <br>In Life, was Gall, and Bitterness of Soul:<br>Why the lone Widow, and her Orphans, pin'd,<br>In starving Solitude; while Luxury,<br>In Palaces, lay prompting her low Thought,<br>To form unreal Wants: why Heaven-born Faith, <br>And Charity, prime Grace! wore the red Marks<br>Of Persecution's Scourge: why licens'd Pain,<br>That cruel Spoiler, that embosom'd Foe,<br>Imbitter'd all our Bliss. Ye Good Distrest!<br>Ye Noble Few! that, here, unbending, stand <br>Beneath Life's Pressures - yet a little while,<br>And all your Woes are past. Time swiftly fleets,<br>And wish'd Eternity, approaching, brings<br>Life undecaying, Love without Allay,<br>Pure flowing Joy, and Happiness sincere.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=James+Thomson">James Thomson</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <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=416363" data-title="Winter de James Thomson" data-description="SEE! Winter comes, to rule the varied Year, Sullen, and sad; with all his rising Train, Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms: Be these my Theme, These, that exalt the Soul to solemn Thought, And heavenly musing. Welcome kindred Glooms! Wish'd, wint'ry..."></div> </div> </div>

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