Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-09-21
written for THE oprrc.1

Hermlt's Hill invites my song
Draw the landscape bright and strong
Hermit, in whose silent shade,
For the modest muses. made,
SO OFT | have tbs evening still,
AT the fountain of a rill,
Sat upon q iowery bed,
With my hand beneath my head;
Whiie stray'd my eyes DER Pecos Hood
Over mead and over wood,
From house to house, from hill to hill
Til contemplation had her fill.
Abou his chequ-r'd sizes l wind,
An leave b is'brool Q and meads behind
Aud groves aud groJtoes W lere | lay
And vistas shooting oeams OF day;
Wide ana wider spreads the vale,
AS circles on a small canal;
The mountains round, unhappy fate;
Sooner or later, of all height,
Withdraw their submits from thu
And lessen as the others rise;
Still the prospect wider spreads,
Adds a thousand woods aud meads
Still it widens, widens still,
And sinks the newly-risen hill.
Now | gain the mountains brow;
What a landscape lies below;
M clouds, no Yapors intervene,
But the gay, the open scene
DOES tue face OF nature show
In all the bues OF heavens bow;
And, swelling to embr ace the light,
Spreads around beneath the sight,
Old castles on the cliffs arise,
Proudly towering to the skies;
Pushing from the woods the spires,
Seen from hence ascending fires;
Half his beam Apollo sheds
On the yellow mou tain heads;
Gilds the heeces of the focks,
And glitters on the broken rocks;
Below me trHRa unnnm nartd risa
Beautiful 10 various dyes;
The gloomy pine, the poplar blue,
The yellow beech, the sable yew,
The slender fir. the taper grows,
The sturdy oak, with broad spread
boughs;
And b yond the purple grove,
Haunt the Fhilles, green love;
Gaudy as the opening uawn
Lies a long and level lawn,
On which a dark Hill, steep and high,
Holds and charms the wandering eye;
Deep r his feet in Pecos food,
His sides are clothed In waving wood,
n ancient towers crown his brow,
That cast an awful look below;
Whose ragged walls the ivy creeks,
And with her arms from falling keep;
So both a safety from the wind
In mutual dependence find.
Ills now the ravens bleak abode;
Ills now the apartment of the toad;
And there the fox securely feeds,
And there the poisonous adder breeds,
ConceaId in ruins, moss and weeds;
While ever and anon, there falls
Hue heaps of hoary moulder'd walls;
Yet time has been that lifts the low,
And level lay S the lofty brow,
Has seen the broken pile complete,
Big with the vanity of state;
But transient is the smile Of fate;
A little rule, a little sway,
A sunbeam in a winters day,
l. all the proud and mighty have
Between the cradle and the grave;
Ano see the rivers how they run,
Through woods and meads, in shade
and sin,
Sometimes swiftly, sometimes slow
Wave succeeding wave they go,
A various journey to the deep,
Like human life to endless sleep;
Thus IN natures yesture wrought,
To instruct our wana'ring thought,
Tous she dresses green and gay,
L diSperse our cares away.
Eve charming, lever new,
When will the landscape tire the view;
The tountains fall, the rivers flow;
The woody valleys warm ard low NJ
The windy summit, wild and high,
r ugbiy rushing on the sky;
The pleasant seat and ruined tower.
The naked rock. the shady bow'r;
The tow and village, dome and farm,
Each gives each a double charm,
AS pearls upon an Aethiopis arm,
See IN the mountains southern side,
Who're the presnect opens wide,
Where The evening guilds the tide,
How cl Sc and small the hedges lie;
What streaks of meadows cross the
eye!
A St p mefhinks may pass the stream;
SO lit le distant dangers seem;
30 we mistake the futures face,
Ey'd throp gb hops's d%eluding glass;
AS van SUBMITS soft and fair
Clad III colors o. the air,
Which 10 those who journey near,
Barren brown, and rosgh appeal
Still we tread the same coarse way,
Tee presents still a cloudy day.
o, NAV | with myself agree,
Aud nevsr covet what | see;
Coptent me with an humble shade,
My passions tanned, my wishes laid;
For while our wishes wildly roll,
We Danish quiet from the soul;
IT'S thus the busy beat the air,
AID misers gather wealth and care.
Now, even now, my joys run high
A on the mountain turf / lie;
W lille wanton zephyr sings,
And the vale per umes his wings,
While the waters murmur deep;
While tue shepherd charms the sheep;
Will the birds unbounded fly,
And with music fill the sky,
Now, W. now, my JOYS run high.
Be full, ye C urts, ne great who will,
Search tor peace glth all your skill;
Opea wide the lof y door,
Seek her on the marble floor;
In vain ye search, she Is not there;
In vain We search the domes Of care;
Grass and flowers quiet tTeads,
On the meads and mountain heads,
Along with pleasure, close allied,
Ever bv each others side;
And often by the murmuring rill
Hears the thrush while all is still
Wit in the groves Of Hermit's Hill.
fSigned.) DYER.