THE LONGEST DAY
ADDRESSED TO MY DAUGHTER
THE LONGEST DAY
LET us quit the leafy arbour, And the torrent murmuring by; For the sun is in his harbour, Weary of the open sky. Evening now unbinds the fetters Fashioned by the glowing light; All that breathe are thankful debtors To the harbinger of night. Yet by some grave thoughts attended Eve renews her calm career: 10 For the day that now is ended, Is the longest of the year. Dora! sport, as now thou sportest, On this platform, light and free; Take thy bliss, while longest, shortest, Are indifferent to thee! Who would check the happy feeling That inspires the linnet’s song? Who would stop the swallow, wheeling On her pinions swift and strong? 20 Yet at this impressive season, Words which tenderness can speak From the truths of homely reason, Might exalt the loveliest cheek; And, while shades to shades succeeding Steal the landscape from the sight, I would urge this moral pleading, Last forerunner of “Good night!” SUMMER ebbs;–each day that follows Is a reflux from on high, 30 Tending to the darksome hollows Where the frosts of winter lie. He who governs the creation, In his providence, assigned Such a gradual declination To the life of human kind. Yet we mark it not;–fruits redden, Fresh flowers blow, as flowers have blown, And the heart is loth to deaden Hopes that she so long hath known. 40 Be thou wiser, youthful Maiden! And when thy decline shall come, Let not flowers, or boughs fruit-laden, Hide the knowledge of thy doom. Now, even now, ere wrapped in slumber, Fix thine eyes upon the sea That absorbs time, space, and number; Look thou to Eternity! Follow thou the flowing river On whose breast are thither borne 50 All deceived, and each deceiver, Through the gates of night and morn; Through the year’s successive portals; Through the bounds which many a star Marks, not mindless of frail mortals When his light returns from far. Thus when thou with Time hast travelled Toward the mighty gulf of things, And the mazy stream unravelled With thy best imaginings; 60 Think, if thou on beauty leanest, Think how pitiful that stay, Did not virtue give the meanest Charms superior to decay. Duty, like a strict preceptor, Sometimes frowns, or seems to frown; Choose her thistle for thy sceptre, While youth’s roses are thy crown. Grasp it,–if thou shrink and tremble, Fairest damsel of the green, 70 Thou wilt lack the only symbol That proclaims a genuine queen; And ensures those palms of honour Which selected spirits wear, Bending low before the Donor, Lord of heaven’s unchanging year! 1817.