Primeval woods my parent's birth

Primeval woods my parent's birth
Beheld, where no loud axe was heard,
Where through a solitary earth
No voice the leafy echoes stirred ;
But I was born in gloominess profound,
In sable swaddling clothes the child of light was bound.

Released at length by human skill,
From long confinement forth I sped,
And in each city's highway still
I linger far beneath your tread ;
Though there are times when, grovelling thus no more,
Beyond the clouds of earth, a prisoner still, I soar.

No eye my subtle form may see,
Till, coming forth to light,
A slow consumption wasteth me
In man's unpitying sight.
Yet when from durance vile I swift escape,
All feel my baleful presence, though none See my shape.

I smile upon the giddy scene
Of mirth, and revelry, and song ;
Yet in the sacred courts have been
Devotion's handmaid long ;
With darkness waging constant strife and sure,
I ever shun the day-beams though so bright and pure.

Though none have ever heard my voice,
Yet words of gladness traced in me
Have bid full many a heart rejoice,
When England's flag waved high and free.
And with the song of victory sweetly blended
The full deep hymn of praise that war's dark storm was ended.