And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old In bearded majesty appear. In the midst a form divine! Her eye proclaims her of the Briton line; They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. 'The verse adorn again III. 3 Fierce War and faithful Love, And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. In buskin'd measures move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, A Voice, as of the cherub-choir, Gales from blooming Eden bear; 115 120 125 With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast. 130 And distant warblings lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire. Fond impious man, think'st thou, yon sanguine cloud, 135 Rais'd by thy breath, has quench'd the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me: With joy I see The different doom our fates assign. Be thine Despair, and scept'red Care, He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height ENG. POEMS-9 140 WILLIAM COLLINS 1721-1759 A SONG FROM SHAKESPEARE'S CYMBELINE To fair Fidele's grassy tomb Soft maids and village hinds shall bring No wailing ghost shall dare appear To vex with shrieks this quiet grove; And melting virgins own their love. No withered witch shall here be seen; No goblins lead their nightly crew: And dress thy grave with pearly dew! The redbreast oft, at evening hours, To deck the ground where thou art laid. When howling winds, and beating rain, In tempests shake the sylvan cell; The tender thought on thee shall dwell; Each lonely scene shall thee restore ; And mourn'd till Pity's self be dead. 5 ΙΟ 15 20 ODE TO EVENING IF aught of oaten stop, or pastoral song, May hope, chaste eve, to soothe thy modest ear, Thy springs, and dying gales, O nymph reserved, while now the bright-haired sun With brede ethereal wove, O'erhang his wavy bed: Now air is hushed, save where the weak-eyed bat His small but sullen horn, As oft he rises 'midst the twilight path, To breathe some softened strain, Whose numbers, stealing thro' thy darkening vale, As, musing slow, I hail Thy genial loved return! For when thy folding-star arising shows Who slept in flowers the day, 5 ΙΟ 15 20 And many a nymph who wreathes her brows with sedge, And sheds the freshening dew, and, lovelier still, The pensive pleasures sweet Prepare thy shadowy car. 26 30 35 40 Then lead, calm votaress, where some sheety lake Reflect its last cool gleam. But when chill blustering winds, or driving rain, Views wilds, and swelling floods, And hamlets brown, and dim-discover'd spires; The gradual dusky veil. While spring shall pour his showers, as oft he wont, While summer loves to sport While sallow autumn fills thy lap with leaves ; And rudely rends thy robes; So long, sure found beneath the sylvan shed, Shall fancy, friendship, science, rose-lipp'd health, Thy gentlest influence own, And hymn thy fav'rite name! OLIVER GOLDSMITH 1728-1774 THE DESERTED VILLAGE SWEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed: Seats of my youth, when every sport could please, The decent church that topt the neighboring hill, 5 ΙΟ 15 20 25 |