Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/Natural and Descriptive
Natural and Descriptive.
Who can paint
Like Nature? Can Imagination "boast
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill,
And lose them in each other, as appears
In every bud that blows.
There is a lesson in each flower,
A story in each stream and bower;
On every herb o'er which we tread
Are written words which, rightly read,
Will lead us from earth's fragrant sod,
To hope, and holiness, and God!
Not a flower
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivalled pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes
In grains as countless as the sea-side sands,
The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth.
Happy who walks with Him! whom what he finds
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower,
Or what he views of beautiful or grand
In Nature, from the broad majestic oak
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun,
Prompts with remembrance of a present God.
In the vast, and the minute, we see
The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing,
And wheels His throne upon the rolling worlds.
Oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms, which Nature to her vot'ry yields;
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,
The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields;
All that the genial ray of morning gilds,
And all that echoes to the song of even;
All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields,
And all the dread magnificence of heaven;
Oh, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven.
These are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good,
Almighty, Thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair: Thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these Thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Studies in Nature lead us to cherish the idea of a God, who created, who regenerates, who preserves this universe by invariable laws, and by a continued chain of similar causes, producing similar effects; who pervades all Nature with His Divine Spirit, as a universal Soul, which moves, directs, and restrains the fabric of this world. The blissful idea of a God sweetens every moment of our time, and embellishes before us the paths of life; invites us delightfully to all the beauties of Nature, and associates us with everything that lives or moves. Yes, the whisper of the gales, the murmur of waters, the peaceful agitation of trees or shrubs, would concur to engage our minds, and affect our souls with tenderness, if our thoughts were elevated to one Universal Cause, if we recognised on all sides the works of Him whom we love, if we marked the traces of His august steps and benignant intentions, if we believed ourselves actually present at the display of his boundless power, and the magnificent exertions of His unlimited goodness.