 | The Poems of Robert Fergusson |  |
CHORUS.
To guard Britannia from envious foes,
To view her angry vengeance hurl'd
In awful thunder round the world,
And trembling nations bending to her blows.
To view her angry vengeance hurl'd
In awful thunder round the world,
And trembling nations bending to her blows.
High towering on the zephyrs breezy wing,
Swift fly the Naiades from Fortha's shores,
And to the southern airy mountains bring
Their sweet enchantment, and their magic powers.
Swift fly the Naiades from Fortha's shores,
And to the southern airy mountains bring
Their sweet enchantment, and their magic powers.
Each nymph her favourite willow takes,
The earth with fev'rous tremor shakes,
The stagnant lakes obey their call,
Streams o'er the grassy pastures fall.
The earth with fev'rous tremor shakes,
The stagnant lakes obey their call,
Streams o'er the grassy pastures fall.
42
Tweed spreads her waters to the lucid ray,
Upon the dimpled surf the sun-beams play:
Upon the dimpled surf the sun-beams play:
On her green banks the tuneful shepherd lies,
Charm'd with the music of his reed,
Amidst the wavings of the Tweed:
From sky-reflecting streams the river nymphs arise.
Charm'd with the music of his reed,
Amidst the wavings of the Tweed:
From sky-reflecting streams the river nymphs arise.
| The Poems of Robert Fergusson | |