Poems on Various Subjects By Henry James Pye ... In Two Volumes. Ornamented with Frontispieces |
 | I. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. | ELEGY IV.
|
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
|
|
| II. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | Poems on Various Subjects |  |
63
ELEGY IV.
WRITTEN SEPTEMBER 1, 1763.
When the still Night withdrew her sable shroud,
And left those climes with steps sedate and slow;
While sad Aurora, kerchief'd in a cloud,
With drizzly vapours hung the mountain's brow;
And left those climes with steps sedate and slow;
While sad Aurora, kerchief'd in a cloud,
With drizzly vapours hung the mountain's brow;
The wretched bird, from hapless Perdix sprung,
With trembling wings forsook the furrow'd plain,
And, calling round her all her listening young,
In faultering accents sung this plaintive strain:
With trembling wings forsook the furrow'd plain,
And, calling round her all her listening young,
In faultering accents sung this plaintive strain:
‘Unwelcome morn! too well thy lowering mien
‘Foretels the slaughters of the approaching day;
‘The gloomy sky laments with tears the scene,
‘Where rage and terror reassume their sway.
‘Foretels the slaughters of the approaching day;
‘The gloomy sky laments with tears the scene,
‘Where rage and terror reassume their sway.
64
‘Ah, luckless train! ah, fate-devoted race!
‘The dreadful tale experience tells believe;
‘Dark heavy mists obscure the morning's face,
‘But blood and death shall close the dreary eve.
‘The dreadful tale experience tells believe;
‘Dark heavy mists obscure the morning's face,
‘But blood and death shall close the dreary eve.
‘This day fell man, whose unrelenting hate
‘No grief can soften, and no tears assuage,
‘Pours dire destruction on the feather'd state,
‘While pride and rapine urge his savage rage.
‘No grief can soften, and no tears assuage,
‘Pours dire destruction on the feather'd state,
‘While pride and rapine urge his savage rage.
‘I, who so oft have 'scap'd the impending snare,
‘Ere night arrives, may feel the fiery wound;
‘In giddy circles quit the realms of air,
‘And stain with streaming gore the dewy ground.’
‘Ere night arrives, may feel the fiery wound;
‘In giddy circles quit the realms of air,
‘And stain with streaming gore the dewy ground.’
She said, when lo! the pointer winds his prey,
The rustling stubble gives the fear'd alarm,
The gunner views the covey sleet away,
And rears the unerring tube with skilful arm.
The rustling stubble gives the fear'd alarm,
The gunner views the covey sleet away,
And rears the unerring tube with skilful arm.
65
In vain the mother wings her whirring flight,
The leaden deaths arrest her as she flies;
Her scatter'd offspring swim before her sight,
And, bath'd in blood, she flutters, pants, and dies.
The leaden deaths arrest her as she flies;
Her scatter'd offspring swim before her sight,
And, bath'd in blood, she flutters, pants, and dies.
| Poems on Various Subjects | |