Evening In Retirement. Poem by Susan Evance

Evening In Retirement.



Down by yonder copse remote,
Sweet to pass the evening hour;
There resounds each varied note
That can charm the woodland bow'r;
There the earliest blackbirds sing,
There the cuckoo first is heard;
And among the blooms of spring
Warbles there night's favourite bird.

On that old secluded stile,
By the meadow's flow'ry green,
Whence the distant prospects smile,
Pensively I love to lean:
List'ning to each rural sound,
Gazing with attentive eyes
On the lovely scene around,
Glowing earth, and painted skies.

See the blue hills, soft and clear,
Round whose base the river strays,
Where the gliding sails appear,
Tinted by the western rays;
Now half hid among the trees,
Now emerging to the beam,
As the softly blowing breeze
Wafts them slowly down the stream.

O, as evening gently fades,
Sweet the sacred sentiment
That my bosom calm pervades,
Pious, peaceful, pleas'd, content.
Those long clouds that streak the west,
I can fancy they convey
To my sympathetic breast
Thoughts expanded wide as they.

Twilight spreads her pale grey line;
Brings her stillness and her shade,
And the star that loves to shine
Lonely o'er yon quiet glade.
Now awake sweet Music's sound,
Bid her gentlest murmurs roll,
And in tenderness profound
Touch the chords within my soul.

How I love the pensive strain,
Lengthen'd, dying on the ear!
How I cherish the soft pain
That then gives the thrilling tear!
Absent friends! then musing thought
Ever to your memory true,
With affection doubly fraught,
Brings you to my ling'ring view.

Thus enchanting dreams beguile,
Homeward as I bend my way:
And the placid moon, the while
Lights me with her silvery ray.-
O my sweet and tranquil home!
Thy calm shades oft seem to say
Here contentions never come,
Here peace holds perpetual sway.

Nor untrue the whisper'd tale; -
Gently sweet our moments move,
Viewless as the passing gale,
Gliding on the wings of love,
Ah serene, romantic days!
When ye're gone for ever by,
How will memory love to gaze
On the prospects ye'll supply!

With these valued favours blest,
Shall anticipation's pow'r
In dark forms of fancy drest,
Cloud with gloom the passing hour?
No- for all these blessings given,
Let my heart its homage pay;
And with gratitude to heaven
Close the sweet, the happy day.

Friday, March 8, 2019
Topic(s) of this poem: nature
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