But bear me to yon lonely dale,
Where weeps the willows o'er the murm'ring stream:
Or where in the bow'ry shade
Quiet leans her drooping head,
Where from yonder cave beneath
Sweeps the wild wind through the heath,
Or with notes that deeply move,
Wake all the tuneful soul of Love;
Let bright Lucinda's charms arise,
With all the dazzling filame, the lightning of her eyes.
Then on the rapid wings of Fancy borne, Bold let me soar with steddy fight, . Where bursts the radiant blaze of light; Or where Aurora sheds the rosy morn: Or lead me where the warbling Nine, With flying fingers sweep the melting lyre; There soothe with harmony divine, Or nobly breathe celestial fire. Or in the soft Idalian grove, With all the Graces let me rove, Where gay Anacreon haunts the genial bow'r, And crowns the blushing nymph with ev'ry balmy flow'r.
. 5. Oft
Oft too with Spencer let me tread
The fairy field where Una strays;
Or loll in Pleasure's flow'ry bed *,
Or burst to heav’n in Milton's high-wrought lays.
Or on Ariel's airy wing
Let me chase the young-ey'd Spring,
Where the powder'd cowslips bloom,
Where the wild thyme breathes perfume :
Or with solemn steps, and fad,
Slow let me haunt the deepning shade,
Where Richard, thro' the opening ground,
Beheld the white-rob'd Ghost, and mark'd the gush-
ing wound.
Come, gentle God, with magic wand
Of pow'r to calm the soul of Care :
From Envy's grasp to loose the brand,
Or lull th’envenom'd snakes that prompt Despair :
Bring the Vision's airy show,
Yews that wave o'er Lethe flow,
Glimm’ring
Glimm’ring beams, and taper blue,
Rod, that drops with Stygian dew;
Sloth, on down supinely laid,
And low-ey'd Ease that droops the head,
Pale Languor wrapt in thoughtless gaze,
And wild Oblivion lost in Fancy's boundless maze.
See Night's dun robe involves the pathless waste!
Black clouds in heaps confus’dly thrown,
Roll awful o'er her gloomy throne:
While thro’ the dark cave sweeps the whistling blast:
Yon car by boding ravens led,
Bears the 'lone Goddess thro’ the murky gloom;
Before flow Darkness breathes her shade,
And Rest forsakes the yawning tomb.
Around at Mid-night's solemn noon,
Rapt Fancy gazes on the moon :
Care folds her arms, nor knows th’unpleasing theme,
And Grief diffolving shares the sweetly-foothing
dream.
EEK Power! whose balmy-pinion'd gale
M Steals o'er the flower-enameli'd dale;
Whose voice in gentle whispers near
Oft sighs to Quiet's listening ear;
As on her downy couch at rest,
By Thoughts inspiring visions blest
She sits, with white-robed Silence nigh,
And musing heaves her serious eye,
н
To mark the flow sun’s glimmering ray,
To catch the last pale gleam of day;
Or sunk in sweet repose, unknown
Lies on the wild hill's van alone;
And sees thy gradual pencil flow
Along the heav'n-illumined bow.
Come, Nymph demure, with mantle blue,
Thy treffes bath'd in balmy dew,
With step smooth sliding o'er the green,
The Graces breathing in thy mien ; '
And thy vesture's gather'd fold
Girt with a zone of circling gold;
And bring the harp, whose solemn string
Dies to the wild wind's murmuring wing;
And the Nymph, whose eye serene
Marks the calm breathing woodland scene ;
Thought, mountain-fage! who loves to climb,
And haunts the dark rock's summit diin;
Let Fancy falcon-wing'd be near :
And through the cloud-enveloped sphere,
Where musing roams Retirement hoar,
Lulld by the torrent’s distant roar;
O bid with trembling light to glow
The raven-plume that crowns his brow.
Lo, where thy meek-ey'd train attend ! . Queen of the solemn thought descend !
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