The Law of Beauty

Read the great law in Beauty's cheering reign,
Blent with all ends through matter's wide domain;
She breathes Hope's language, and with boundless range
Sublimes all forms, smiles through each subtle change,
And with insensate elements combined
Ordains their constant ministry to mind.
The breeze awoke to waft the feather'd seed,
And the cloud-fountains with their dew to feed.
Upon its many errands might have flown,
Nor woke one river song or forest moan,
Stirr'd not the grass, nor the tall grain have bent,
Like shoreless billows tremulously spent;
Frost could the bosom of the lake have glass'd,
Nor paused to paint the woodlands as it pass'd;
The glossy seabird and the brooding dove
Might coyly peck with twinkling eye of love,
Nor catch upon their downy necks the dyes,
So like the mottled hues of summer skies:
Mists in the west could float, nor glory wear,
As if an angel's robes were streaming there;
The moon might sway the tides, nor yet impart
A solemn light to tranquillize the heart,
And leagues of sand could bar the ocean's swell,
Nor yield one crystal gleam or pearly shell.
The very sedge lends music to the blast,
And the thorn glistens when the storm is past;
Wild flowers nestle in the rocky cleft,
Moss decks the bough of leaf and life bereft,
O'er darkest clouds the moonbeams brightly steal,
The rainbow's herald is the thunder's peal;
Gay are the weeds that strew the barren shore,
And anthem-like the breaker's gloomy roar.
As love o'er sorrow spreads her genial wings
The ivy round a fallen column clings,
While on the sinking walls, where owlets cry,
The weather stains in tints of beauty lie.
The wasting elements adorn their prey
And throw a pensive charm around decay;
Thus ancient limners bade their canvas glow,
And group'd sweet cherubs o'er a martyr's wo.