Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANDERER: 4. IN SWITZERLAND: THE HEART AND NATURE, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERER: 4. IN SWITZERLAND: THE HEART AND NATURE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lake is calm; and calm, the skies
Last Line: On michael's brow.
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): Switzerland; Travel; Swiss; Journeys; Trips


THE lake is calm; and, calm, the skies
In yonder silent sunset glow,
Where, o'er the woodland, homeward flies
The solitary crow;

The woodman to his hut is gone;
The wood-dove in the elm is still;
The last sheep drinks, and wanders on
To graze at will.

Nor aught the pensive prospect breaks,
Save where my slow feet stir the grass,
Or where the trout to diamonds breaks
The lake's pale glass.

No moan the cushat makes, to heave
A leaflet round her windless nest;
The air is silent in the eve;
The world's at rest.

All bright below; all calm above;
No sense of pain, no sign of wrong;
Save in thy heart of hopeless love,
Poor child of Song!

Why must the soul through Nature rove,
At variance with her general plan?
A stranger to the Power, whose love
Soothes all save Man?

Why lack the strength of meaner creatures?
The wandering sheep, the grazing kine,
Are surer of their simple natures
Than I of mine.

For all their wants the poorest land
Affords supply; they browse and breed;
I scarce divine, and ne'er have found,
What most I need.

O God, that in this human heart
Hath made Belief so hard to grow,
And set the doubt, the pang, the smart
In all we know --

Why hast thou, too, in solemn jest
At this tormented thinking-power,
Inscribed, in flame on yonder West,
In hues on every flower,

Through all the vast unthinking sphere
Of mere material Force without,
Rebuke so vehement and severe
To the least doubt?

And robed the world and hung the night,
With silent, stern, and solemn forms;
And strown with sounds of awe and might,
The seas and storms, --

All lacking power to impart
To man the secret he assails,
But armed to crush him, if his heart
Once doubts or fails!

To make him feel the same forlorn
Despair the Fiend hath felt ere now,
In gazing at the stern sweet scorn
On Michael's brow.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net