A Collection of Original Poems | ||
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VIRTUE.
An Ode.
I
Bright guardians of the forked hill,Sprung from Mnemosyne and Jove,
With happy inspiration fill;
Let me thy sacred rapture prove.
II
Pour your blest spirit o'er the page,Immortal foes of keen despair;
And while your services engage,
Oh! snatch me from myself and care.
III
Bid grief, that vulture to my breast,Sharper than what Prometheus knows,
Avaunt! and leave the bard at rest:
Grant, heav'nly maids, the wish'd repose.
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IV
'Tis done! aloof misfortunes stand!While ev'ry thought on you is bent;
You can the healing balm command,
Which gives the troubled mind content.
V
But the wish'd blessing will not hold,For, oh! when I resign my pen,
Again, in mourning weeds behold!
My woe-fraught genius come again.
VI
To shield me from the gloomy scene,To Cowper's patronage I fly;
Nor evil then shall intervene,
Nor heave the heart-extorted sigh.
VII
Merit yet never su'd in vain,When Cowper could extend his aid,
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Of virtues happily display'd.
VIII
Virtue! how seldom art thou knownIn gorgeous palaces to dwell;
You oftener elevate your throne
Within the peasant's humble cell.
IX
Thither nor wealth nor titles roam,To tempt the mind with gaudy glare,
For vice can never six her home
In poverty's rough frigid air.
X
Various the forms that you assume,To regulate the active soul,
When the rais'd passions dare presume
The check of reason to controul.
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XI
You teach us to avoid the shelves,Where else our happiness were lost,
If we, abandon'd to ourselves,
On life's inconstant sea were tost.
XII
You o'er our acts discretion pour,Adorn with unaffected grace;
As spring with a refreshing show'r
Adds gayer bloom to nature's face.
XIII
When thro' infirmity or fear,The mind dejected falls from good,
Your presence but acknowledg'd near,
It's innate strength's again renew'd.
XIV
Or if the emanating mindSuperior soar to narrow rule,
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Ambition's slave, vain fortune's fool.
XV
So, pilots all their canvas spread,To court the coy reluctant breeze,
When Thetis rears her dropping head,
And smiling, smooths the furrow'd seas.
XVI
Or if loud storms the sky assail,And o'er the angry ocean sweep,
He quickly furls the flowing sail,
Or ploughs with naked poles the deep.
XVII
Virtue immortal and divine,Surmounts the clouds of stormy fate;
Sickness and care and years combine,
In vain, against her happy mate.
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XVIII
The God of War, with savage train,Pours quick destruction o'er the field;
Wealth, honours, pow'r resist in vain,
Ev'n valour is compell'd to yield.
XIX
While virtue fix'd as either pole,Indignant views the rapid race,
Above each shock, and thro' the whole
Maintains her own exalted place.
XX
Diogenes, in tub immur'd,Laugh'd at the various turns of life,
By virtue of affliction cur'd,
Fenc'd from calamity and strife.
XXI
This clears the vitiated sightFrom the false glare that shadows wealth,
163
And gives the mind internal health.
XXII
Thus optic glasses help the eye,By nature but imperfect made,
And seem to draw those objects nigh,
That in the vale of distance fade.
XXIII
What tho' a parent should neglectHer duty, thro' some false pretence,
Shall grief for that my soul infect,
While I'm secure in innocence.
XXIV
Shall I complain if Fortune frown,Curse the long day, or wish me dead,
When 'tis to ev'ry school-boy known,
Homer sung ballads for his bread.
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XXV
In virtue I'll a refuge find,A sure asylum from distress;
Virtue will nerve my ruffled mind,
And fate may frown, tho' not oppress.
XXVI
With Cowper dwells th' immortal maid,That lifts her votary to the skies,
Her shield is probity display'd,
And peaceful happiness her prize.
A Collection of Original Poems | ||