University of Virginia Library

XXXVII.

[Ill fares the Muse when sad affliction reigns]

Ill fares the Muse when sad affliction reigns,
Mute is her voice, or nerveless are her strains,
E'en love itself can then but faintly glow,
It's rays scarce pierce the thicken'd clouds of woe:
Of filial woe, which strives in vain to save
A much-loved Parent bending o'er the grave.

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To whom are due whate'er this frame can boast,
Each warm emotion, justly valued most,
By her infused, expanded, and refined,
The energic thought, and sympathising mind.