The poetical works of John Nicholson ... Carefully edited from the original editions, with additional notes and a sketch of his life and writings. By W. G. Hird |
 |
|
|
|
|
 | The poetical works of John Nicholson |  |
At intervals, the muse of Philo sung
In strains like these, then silent was her tongue.
The hand that holds the fatal potion shakes,
Invention's fled, the nervous feeling wakes;
His eyes have lost their fire, his faltering tongue
Speaks not in sentences so firm and strong,
His memory's fled, invention laid at rest—
His heart-strings quiver in his weakened breast;
But still the thoughts of other bards' despair,
The sons of misery and rankling care,
Prompted a last, though enervated lay,
And this the substance of his weak essay:
In strains like these, then silent was her tongue.
The hand that holds the fatal potion shakes,
Invention's fled, the nervous feeling wakes;
His eyes have lost their fire, his faltering tongue
Speaks not in sentences so firm and strong,
His memory's fled, invention laid at rest—
His heart-strings quiver in his weakened breast;
But still the thoughts of other bards' despair,
The sons of misery and rankling care,
Prompted a last, though enervated lay,
And this the substance of his weak essay:
| The poetical works of John Nicholson | |