The Whole Works of William Browne of Tavistock ... Now first collected and edited, with a memoir of the poet, and notes, by W. Carew Hazlitt, of the Inner Temple |
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An Ode.
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 | The Whole Works of William Browne |  |
An Ode.
I
Awake, faire Muse; for I intendThese everlasting lynes to thee,
And, honord Drayton, come & lend
An eare to this sweet melodye:
For on my harpes most high & siluer string,
To those Nine Sisters whom I loue, I sing.
2
This man through death & horror seekesHonor, by the Victorious Steele;
Another in vnmapped creekes
For Jewells moares his winged keele.
The clamrous Barre wins some, & others byte
At lookes throwne from a mushrome Fauorite.
3
But I, that serue the louely Graces,Spurne at that drosse, which most adore;
And tytles hate, like paynted faces,
And heart-fed Care for euermore.
Those pleasures I disdaine, which are pursude
With praise & wishes by the multitude.
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4
The Bayes, which deathles Learning crownes,Me of Appollo's troope installs:
The Satyres following ore the downes
Fair Nymphs to rusticke festiualls,
Make me affect (where men no traffique haue)
The holy horror of a Sauage Caue.
5
Through the faire skyes I thence intend,With an vnusd & powerfull wing,
To beare me to my Jorneyes end:
And those that taste the Muses spring,
Too much celestiall fire haue at their birth,
To lyue long tyme like cōmon soules in Earth.
6
From faire Aurora will I reareMy selfe vnto the source of floods;
And from the Ethiopian Beare,
To him as white as snowy woods;
Nor shall I feare (for this daye taking flight)
To be wounde vp in any vayle of night.
7
Of Death I may not feare the dart,As is the vse of Humane State;
For well I knowe my better part
Dreads not the hand of Tyme or Fate.
Tremble at Death, Enuye, & fortune whoe
Haue but one life: Heauen giues a Poet two.
8
All costly obsequies invaye,Marble & paintyng too, as vayne;
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As those doe of the vulgar trayne.
And if my Muse to Spencers glory come
No King shall owne my verses for his Tombe.”
| The Whole Works of William Browne | |