The Harp of Erin Containing the Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Dermody. In Two Volumes |
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ON THE
SORROWS OF A DEPENDANT STATE. |
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 | The Harp of Erin |  |
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ON THE SORROWS OF A DEPENDANT STATE.
Ah! where shall modest Genius lay his head?For him nor blooms the primrose bed of joy,
Nor Plenty pours her festal dainties wide;
Nor bleeds the gen'rous grape in purple streams!
Fond mother, weep o'er that unhappy child,
The wayward Muse has mark'd for many a care;
Full often doom'd to shrink (oh! doom severe)
Into his cheerless cot, unfed, unknown,
Unpity'd too, to think on better times.
No flatt'ring crowds attend his morning sleep;
No music, but the call of clam'rous duns,
Inhuman fiends, insatiable, and loud.
Should he presume lone wand'ring in his way,
By rattling storms o'ertook, to seek some gate
Of lofty semblance, straight the surly clown,
With dogs less surly, plies the human chase.
Proud dome, it was not so when thy first lord,
A princely owner, met the man of song
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And shook his sides and ruddy cheeks with glee,
While the brisk seneschal, with sparkling eye,
Brimm'd the huge cup, and pil'd the costly board.
In this degenerate syncope, of aught
Or amiable or grand, the minstrel droops
O'er his sweet harp unstrung; and pitying views
The sad decline of Virtue and the Muse.
| The Harp of Erin | |