 | The banshee and other poems |  |
126
ON A PERFORMANCE OF
THE FAITHFULL SHEPHERDESSE
BY THE “PASTORAL PLAYERS” AT COOMBE HOUSE.
If, from the Elysian haunt of Poets dead,Honey-tongued Fletcher, ever thou dost look
On this world's change, sad for some wasted nook
Or sylvan glade familiar to thy tread;
Jovially now, bending thy laurelled head,
Smile: at thy song, great Pan, who in wrath forsook
Our woods, is come again; the pastoral crook
Leads in Arcadia, toil with beauty wed.
O shepherds blithe, fleet nymphs, whose linkèd glee
Sisters Victoria with Elizabeth,
Dance on immortal in our mortal sun:
The hymns ye move to have no note of death,
Ye shine, life's golden victories yet unwon—
The unfulfilled fair dreams of poesy!
| The banshee and other poems | |