On Avon's banks I lit, whose streams appear The year's first feath'ry songsters warble near, Here Fancy sat, (her dewy fingers cold Decking with flow'rets fresh th' unsullied sod) "Ah! what avails,' she cry'd, 'a poet's name? "The fiery glance of th' intellectual eye, O grant,' with eager rapture I reply'd, Grant me, great goddess of the changeful eye, To view each being in poetic pride, To whom thy son gave immortality.' Sweet Fancy smil'd, and wav'd her mystic rod, When straight these visions felt her pow'rful arm, And one by one succeeded at her nod, As vassal sprites obey the wizard's charm. First a celestial form (of azure hue Whose mantle, bound with brede ethereal, flow'd To each soft breeze its balmy breath that drew) Swift down the sun-beams of the noontide rode. Obedient to the necromantic sway Of an old sage to solitude resign'd, With fenny vapours he obscur'd the day, [wind. Launch'd the long lightning, and let loose the He whirl'd the tempest through the howling air, Rattled the dreadful thunder-clap on high, And rais'd the roaring elemental war Betwixt the sea-green waves and azure sky. Then, like Heaven's mild ambassador of love Unlike to this in spirit or in mien Another form succeeded to my view; A two-legg'd brute, which Nature made in spleen, Or from the loathing womb unfinish'd drew. Scarce could he syllable the curse he thought, Prone were his eyes to earth, his mind to evil, A carnal fiend to imperfection wrought, The mongrel offspring of a witch and devil. Next bloom'd upon an ancient forest's bound, On the green carpet of th' unbended grass, Through these the queen Titania pass'd ador'd, Arm'd cap-a-pee forth march'd the fairy king, Around their chief the elfin host appear'd; The scene then chang'd, from this romantic land, Where three swart sisters of the weird band Were mutt'ring curses to the troublous wind. Pale Want had wither'd every furrow'd face, Bow'd was each carcass with the weight of years, And each sunk eye-ball from its hollow case Distill'd cold rheum's involuntary tears. Hors'd on three staves they posted to the bourn Where smiling Comfort never show'd her face, Where light ne'er enter'd, save one rueful ray Discovering all the terrors of the place. They held damn'd myst'ries with infernal state, [broke; Thro' troubled Earth's wide yawning surface When lo! each injur'd apparition rose; Aghast the murd❜rer started from his bed; [froze, Guilt's trembling breath his heart's red current And Horror's dew-drops bath'd his frantic head. More had I seen-but now the god of day O'er Earth's broad breast his flood of light had spread, When Morpheus call'd his fickle dreams away, VOL. III. 17 Yet still the dear enchantress of the brain My waking eyes with wishful wand'rings sought, Whose magic will controls th' ideal train, The ever-restless progeny of Thought. 'Sweet power,' I said, ' for others gild the ray Of Wealth, or Honour's folly-feather'd crown, Or lead the madding multitude astray To grasp at air-blown bubbles of renown. 'Me (humbler lot!) let blameless bliss engage, Free from the noble mob's ambitious strife, Free from the muck-worm miser's lucrous rage, In calm Contentment's cottag’d vale of life. 'If frailties there (for who from them is free?) Through Error's maze my devious footsteps Let them be frailties of humanity, [lead, And my heart plead the pardon of my head. 'Let not my reason impiously require What Heav'n has plac'd beyond its narrow span, But teach it to subdue each fierce desire, Which wars within its own small empire, man. Teach me, what all believe, but few possess ; That life's best science is ourselves to know, The first of human blessings is to bless, And happiest he who feels another's wo. Thus cheaply wise, and innocently great, While Time's smooth sand shall regularly pass, Each destin'd atom's quiet course I'll wait, Nor rashly break, nor wish to stop the glass. |