 | Poems on several occasions |  |
66
ODE TO YOUTH.
Youth, ah stay, prolong delight,
Close thy pinions stretch'd for flight!
Youth, disdaining silver hairs,
Autumn's frowns and Winter's cares,
Dwell'st thou but in dimple sleek,
In vernal smiles and Summer's cheek?
On Spring's ambrosial lap thy hands unfold,
They blossom fresh with hope, and all they touc his gold.
Close thy pinions stretch'd for flight!
Youth, disdaining silver hairs,
Autumn's frowns and Winter's cares,
Dwell'st thou but in dimple sleek,
In vernal smiles and Summer's cheek?
On Spring's ambrosial lap thy hands unfold,
They blossom fresh with hope, and all they touc his gold.
67
Graver years come sailing by:
Hark! they call me as they fly;
Quit, they cry, for nobler themes,
Statesman, quit thy boyish dreams!
Tune to crowds thy pliant voice,
Or flatter thrones, the nobler choice!
Deserting Virtue, yet assume her state;
Thy smiles, that dwell with Love, ah! wed them now to Hate.
Hark! they call me as they fly;
Quit, they cry, for nobler themes,
Statesman, quit thy boyish dreams!
Tune to crowds thy pliant voice,
Or flatter thrones, the nobler choice!
Deserting Virtue, yet assume her state;
Thy smiles, that dwell with Love, ah! wed them now to Hate.
Or in Victory's purple plain
Triumph thou on hills of slain!
While the virgin rends her hair,
Childless sires demand their heir,
Timid orphans kneel and weep:
Or, where the unsunn'd treasures sleep,
Sit brooding o'er thy cave in grim repose,
There mock at human joys, there mock at human woes
Triumph thou on hills of slain!
While the virgin rends her hair,
Childless sires demand their heir,
Timid orphans kneel and weep:
Or, where the unsunn'd treasures sleep,
Sit brooding o'er thy cave in grim repose,
There mock at human joys, there mock at human woes
68
Years away! too dear I prize
Fancy's haunts, her vales, her skies;
Come, ye gales that swell the flowers,
Wake my soul's expanding powers;
Come, by streams embow'r'd in wood,
Celestial forms, the Fair, the Good!
With moral charms associate vernal joys!
Pure Nature's pleasures these—the rest are Fashion's toys.
Fancy's haunts, her vales, her skies;
Come, ye gales that swell the flowers,
Wake my soul's expanding powers;
Come, by streams embow'r'd in wood,
Celestial forms, the Fair, the Good!
With moral charms associate vernal joys!
Pure Nature's pleasures these—the rest are Fashion's toys.
Come, while years reprove in vain,
Youth, with me, and Rapture reign!
Sculpture, Painting, meet my eyes,
Glowing still with young surprize!
Never to the Virgin's lute
This ear be deaf, this voice be mute!
Come, Beauty, cause of anguish, heal its smart,
—Now temperate measures beat, unalter'd else my heart.
Youth, with me, and Rapture reign!
Sculpture, Painting, meet my eyes,
Glowing still with young surprize!
Never to the Virgin's lute
This ear be deaf, this voice be mute!
Come, Beauty, cause of anguish, heal its smart,
—Now temperate measures beat, unalter'd else my heart.
69
Still my soul, for ever young,
Speak thyself divinely sprung!
Wing'd for Heaven, embracing Earth,
Link'd to all of mortal birth,
Brute or man, in social chain
Still link'd to all, who suffer pain.
Pursue the eternal law!—one Power above
Connects, pervades the whole—that Power divine is Love.
Speak thyself divinely sprung!
Wing'd for Heaven, embracing Earth,
Link'd to all of mortal birth,
Brute or man, in social chain
Still link'd to all, who suffer pain.
Pursue the eternal law!—one Power above
Connects, pervades the whole—that Power divine is Love.
| Poems on several occasions | |