"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove; Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn, Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love. "One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill, Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; "The next, with dirges due in sad array Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him born.— THE EPITAPH. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth, Heav'n did a recompense as largely send: He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear, He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend. Headlong, impetuous, see it pour; The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar. I. 2. Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul, Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, And frantic Passions hear thy soft controul. On Thracia's hills the Lord of War Has curb'd the fury of his car, And drop'd his thirsty lance at thy command. Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king The terror of his beak, and light'ning of his eye. 15 20 35 Slow melting strains their Queen's approach declare: With arms sublime, that float upon the air, In gliding state she wins her easy way: O'er her warm cheek, and rising bosom, move The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of Love. 40 And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate! 45 The fond complaint, my song, disprove, Say, has he giv'n in vain the heav'nly Muse? Night and all her sickly dews, Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry, He gives to range the dreary sky; Till down the eastern cliffs afar Hyperion's march they spy, and glitt'ring shafts of war. 50 To chear the shiv'ring native's dull abode. II. 2. In climes beyond the solar road, Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam, And oft, beneath the od'rous shade Of Chili's boundless forests laid, 55 She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat, 60 In loose numbers wildly sweet, Their feather-cinctur'd chiefs, and dusky loves. Her track, where'er the Goddess roves, Glory pursue, and generous Shame, Th' unconquerable Mind, and Freedom's holy flame. 65 II. 3. Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep, Fields, that cool Ilissus laves, Or where Mæander's amber waves In lingering lab'rinths creep, How do your tuneful echos languish, Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains. Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant-Power, And coward Vice, that revels in her chains. 70 75 80 When Latium had her lofty spirit lost, They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast. III. I. Far from the sun and summer-gale, In thy green lap was Nature's Darling laid, To him the mighty Mother did unveil 85 "This pencil take (she said), whose colours clear Richly paint the vernal year: 90 Thine too these golden keys, immortal Boy! This can unlock the gates of Joy; Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears, Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic Tears." III. 2. Nor second He, that rode sublime 95 Upon the seraph-wings of Extasy, The secrets of th' Abyss to spy. He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time: 105 With necks in thunder cloath'd, and long-resounding pace. Such forms as glitter in the Muse's ray, With orient hues, unborrow'd of the sun : Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate, Beneath the Good how far !-but far above the Great. THE BARD. 120 I. I. "RUIN seize thee, ruthless King! To save thy secret soul from nightly fears, He wound with toilsome march his long array. Stout Glo'ster stood aghast in speechless trance: "To arms!" cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quiv'ring lance. I. 2. On a rock, whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Rob'd in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the Poet stood (Loose his beard, and hoary hair Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air), “Hark, how each giant-oak, and desert cave, Sighs to the torrent's aweful voice beneath! O'er thee, oh King! their hundred arms they wave, Vocal no more, since Cambria's fatal day, 15 20 25 |