Tho' far below the forked lightnings play, Oft, in the saddle rudely rocked to sleep, O'er the loud fury of the torrent's fall. But can her smile with gloomy Madness dwell? Say, can she chase the horrors of his cell? Each fiery flight on Frenzy's wing restrain, And mould the coinage of the fevered brain? Pass but that grate, which scarce a gleam supplies, There in the dust the wreck of Genius lies! He, whose arresting hand divinely wrought Each bold conception in the sphere of thought; And round, in colours of the rainbow, threw Forms ever fair, creations ever new! But, as he fondly snatched the wreath of Fame, The spectre Poverty unnerved his frame. Cold was her grasp, a withering scowl she wore; Awake, arise! with grateful fervour fraught, Go, spring the mine of elevating thought. Who acts thus wisely, mark the moral Muse, A blooming Eden in his life reviews! So rich the culture, tho' so small the space, Its scanty limits he forgets to trace. But the fond fool, when evening shades the sky, Turns but to start, and gazes but to sigh!" Ah! who can tell the triumphs of the mind, When age has quenched the eye, and closed the ear, Oft will she rise-with searching glance pursue O'er dusky forms in chains of slumber cast; So thro' the grove the impatient mother flies, Long on the wood-moss stretched in sweet repose. The silent feasts of the reflecting mind. Danger and death a dread delight inspire; A nation's grateful tribute to the brave. Hail, blest retreats from war and shipwreck, hail! ye heard the narratives of age, The battle's havoc, and the tempest's rage; Gild the calm close of Valour's various day. Time's sombrous touches soon correct the piece, Mellow each tint, and bid each discord cease: Hast thou thro' Eden's wild-wood vales pursueda Each mountain-scene, majestically rude; To note the sweet simplicity of life, Far from the din of Folly's idle strife: Nor there awhile, with lifted eye, revered That modest stone which pious PEMBROKE reared; Which still records, beyond the pencil's power, The silent sorrows of a parting hour; Still to the musing pilgrim points the place, Thus, with the manly glow of honest pride, b Thus, thro' the gloom of SHENSTONE'S fairy-grove, As the stern grandeur of a Gothic tower Steal from each year a melancholy grace! |