 | The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq |  |
138
STANZAS TO THE COUNTRY GIRL.
Blest nymph unknown! fair minstrel of the plain!
When lyres of swelling grandeur cease to please,
Shall charm thy simple, nature-breathing strain,
Where sweetens Beauty's tone mellifluous ease.
When lyres of swelling grandeur cease to please,
Shall charm thy simple, nature-breathing strain,
Where sweetens Beauty's tone mellifluous ease.
Coerced by Fate, my Muse had sighed farewell,
A long farewell to all Apollo's train;
But thou hast charmed her from Retirement's cell,
And strung her loosened, tuneless chords again.
A long farewell to all Apollo's train;
But thou hast charmed her from Retirement's cell,
And strung her loosened, tuneless chords again.
Thus while pale Morpheus walks his midnight rounds,
Soft Musick's echoing voice the ear invades;
And, Orpheus-like, with life renewing sounds,
Recalls the soul from Sleep's unconscious shades.
Soft Musick's echoing voice the ear invades;
And, Orpheus-like, with life renewing sounds,
Recalls the soul from Sleep's unconscious shades.
Say, in what region, what Arcadian skies;
What ville Elysian, what Castalian grove;
Where Tempean bowers, and Attick Edens rise,
The school of Genius, and the lap of Love?
What ville Elysian, what Castalian grove;
Where Tempean bowers, and Attick Edens rise,
The school of Genius, and the lap of Love?
Oh! where, O! tell me, where is thy retreat?
What myrtles twine their arms to shade thy path?
What Naiad's grotto forms thy mid-day seat?
What bank thy couch, what envied stream thy bath?
What myrtles twine their arms to shade thy path?
What Naiad's grotto forms thy mid-day seat?
What bank thy couch, what envied stream thy bath?
Tell me but this, and lo! Menander flies,
To hail the fair, whose picture Fancy views;
T'unmask the face, which charms him in disguise,
And clasp the Nymph, as he has kissed the Muse.
To hail the fair, whose picture Fancy views;
T'unmask the face, which charms him in disguise,
And clasp the Nymph, as he has kissed the Muse.
| The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq | |