Like a soft mist upon the evening shore, At once a lovely isle before me lay, 20 Smooth, and with tender verdure covered o'er, As if just risen from its calm inland bay; Sloped each way gently to the grassy edge, And the small waves that dallied with the sedge. 1 Bryant went to New York in 1825. It was perhaps the influence of the American followers of Byron in New York City rather than of Byron himself that suggested to Bryant the few poems of the type of the "Meditation on Rhode Island Coal." Full many a mighty name Lurks in thy depths, unuttered, unrevered; With thee are silent fame, Forgotten arts, and wisdom disappeared. Thine for a space are they Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last: Thy gates shall yet give way, Thy bolts shall fall, inexorable Past! 40 All that of good and fair Has gone into thy womb from earliest time, Shall then come forth to wear The glory and the beauty of its prime. They have not perished—no! Kind words, remembered voices once so sweet, Smiles, radiant long ago, And features, the great soul's apparent seat. All shall come back; each tie Of pure affection shall be knit again; 5o Alone shall Evil die, And Sorrow dwell a prisoner in thy reign. And then shall I behold Him, by whose kind paternal side I sprung. |