The Poems of John Rollin Ridge
by Jeff Ward

Originally Published by Henry Payot & Company, Publishers.

The "Singing Spirit"

[A Poem addressed to Miss A. A. B.]

WITHIN the forest's depths I wandered once
And sweetest warbling music heard—
Methought it were the water-sprite at first,
And then some lonely singing bird!
And still the music in its softness rose
And fell upon my heart like light,
Which from its dreary realm dispelled
Pale Sadness, with her robe of night.

The shadows left my sobered, pensive brow,
My soul uprising freshen'd seemed,
And every thing I gazed upon as now,
Took hues of which so oft I've dreamed!
I glanced from stem to stem and bough to bough,
To catch the little warbler's form,
To see what shape embodied thus,
And made suspense so fine a charm!

I gazed, but could not see. The music thrilled
Along my beings in most strings,
Till melody had all my bosom filled,
And overrun its secret springs.
The tear stood trembling in my eye, and hushed
To feeling's pause was every breath—
The tones became so low, that I
Half deemed them warning me of death.

And yet there was no dread-I thought, how meet
'Neath such a dirge to sink and die!
While viewless o'er was heard that harp, how sweet
To close the dim and fading eye!
Then rose the lifted voice to sudden power,
And yet not harsh, but rich and deep
As is the feeling of the soul
When mighty thoughts our natures sweep.

Ah me, 't were vain with language to describe
The wild sensations of my breast;
Till I some angel's brightest pen can bribe,
That spirit-thrill must be supprest!
Still floated round those ever changing notes,
Now with a burst, and now a moan,
And I thought in Northern Land
I'd heard and treasured such a tone!

The music died at last, as sweetest things
Must die!—and homeward I returned.
But often in my lonely wanderings
Once more to hear that voice I yearned;
Then grieving that I heard it not, I named
It in the soul it had enthralled.
And ever after to myself
The "Singing Spirit" it was called.

The Poems of John Rollin Ridge by Jeff Ward

Originally Published by Henry Payot & Company, Publishers.

The "Singing Spirit"

The Poems of John Rollin Ridge
by Jeff Ward