Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

CXIV.

"With figs and plums and Persian dates they fed me,

And delicate cates after my sunset meal,

And took me by my childish hand, and led me
By craggy rocks crested with keeps of steel,
Whose awful bases deep dark woods conceal,
Staining some dead lake with their verdant dyes:
And when the West sparkled at Phoebus' wheel,
With fairy euphrasy they purg'd mine eyes,
To let me see their cities in the skies.

CXV.

'Twas they first school'd my young imagination To take its flights like any new-fledg'd bird,

And show'd the span of winged meditation
Stretch'd wider than things grossly seen or heard.
With sweet swift Ariel how I soar'd and stirr'd

The fragrant blooms of spiritual bow'rs!

'Twas they endear'd what I have still preferr'd, Nature's blest attributes and balmy pow'rs,

Her hills and vales and brooks, sweet birds and flow'rs!

CXVI.

"Wherefore with all true loyalty and duty
Will I regard them in my honouring rhyme,
With love for love, and homages to beauty,
And magic thoughts gather'd in night's cool clime,
With studious verse trancing the dragon Time,
Strong as old Merlin's necromantic spells;

So these dear monarchs of the summer's prime
Shall live unstartled by his dreadful yells,

Till shrill larks warn them to their flowery cells."

CXVII.

Look how a poison'd man turns livid black,

Drugg'd with a cup of deadly hellebore,
That sets his horrid features all at rack,

[ocr errors]

So seem'd these words into the ear to pour

Of ghastly Saturn, answering with a roar
Of mortal pain and spite and utmost rage,
Wherewith his grisly arm he rais'd once more,
And bade the cluster'd sinews all engage,
As if at one fell stroke to wreck an age.

CXVIII.

Whereas the blade flash'd on the dinted ground,
Down through his steadfast foe, yet made no scar
On that immortal Shade, or death-like wound;
But Time was long benumb'd, and stood ajar,
And then with baffled rage took flight afar,
To weep his hurt in some Cimmerian gloom,
Or meaner fames (like mine) to mock and mar,
Or sharp his scythe for royal strokes of doom,
Whetting its edge on some old Cæsar's tomb.

CXIX.

Howbeit he vanish'd in the forest shade,
Distantly heard as if some grumbling pard,

And, like Narcissus, to a sound decay'd;

[ocr errors]

Meanwhile the fays cluster'd the gracious Bard,
The darling centre of their dear regard :
Besides of sundry dances on the green,

Never was mortal man so brightly starr'd,

Or won such pretty homages, I ween.

"Nod to him, Elves!" cries the melodious queen.

CXX.

"Nod to him, Elves, and flutter round about him,
And quite enclose him with your pretty crowd,
And touch him lovingly, for that, without him,
The silk-worm now had spun our dreary shroud;
But he hath all dispers'd death's tearful cloud,
And Time's dread effigy scar'd quite away:
Bow to him then, as though to me ye bow'd,
And his dear wishes prosper and obey
Wherever love and wit can find a way!

CXXI.

" 'Noint him with fairy dews of magic savours, Shaken from orient buds still pearly wet,

[ocr errors]

Roses and spicy pinks, and, of all favours,
Plant in his walks the purple violet,
And meadow-sweet under the hedges set,
To mingle breaths with dainty eglantine
And honeysuckles sweet, nor yet forget
Some pastoral flowery chaplets to entwine,
To vie the thoughts about his brow benign!

[ocr errors]

CXXII.

"Let no wild things astonish him or fear him,
But tell them all how mild he is of heart,
Till e'en the timid hares go frankly near him,

And eke the dappled does, yet never start;

Nor shall their fawns into the thickets dart,
Nor wrens forsake their nests among the leaves,
Nor speckled thrushes flutter far apart;

But bid the sacred swallow haunt his eaves,

To guard his roof from lightning and from thieves.

CXXIII.

"Or when he goes the nimble squirrel's visitor,

Let the brown hermit bring his hoarded nuts,
For, tell him, this is Nature's kind Inquisitor,

Though man keeps cautious doors that conscience shuts,
For conscious wrong all curious quest rebuts,
Nor yet shall bees uncase their jealous stings,
However he may watch their straw-built huts;
So let him learn the crafts of all small things,
Which he will hint most aptly when he sings."

« ZurückWeiter »