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The Harp of Erin

Containing the Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Dermody. In Two Volumes

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HYMN TO THE MEMORY OF THOMSON.
  
  
  
  
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254

HYMN TO THE MEMORY OF THOMSON.

O! gentlest of the gifted train,
Whom wild wreaths deck'd from Fancy's bow'r,
May wonder raise the ardent strain,
To hymn thine inexpressive pow'r.
Still, as the vary'd Seasons roll
Mid the fierce sunshine, or the storm,
I trace thy fair, enthusiast soul,
I meet thy silent-musing form.
And oft, methinks, where yellowing shades
Ripe Autumn's browner beauties show,
I hear thee, with the village-maids,
Breathe the sad tale of pleasing woe.
Or, stretch'd beneath some cliff's rude crest,
By each sublimest horror fir'd,
New prospects sink into thy breast,
While Nature sits with Thee, retir'd.

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Oft, as the lurid flashes cleave
Night's murky vault, and flit around,
Shall praise fresh blooms of glory weave,
And fence with bays thy hallow'd mound.
For thou could'st in the tempest tow'r,
Or dart amid noon's sultry rays,
Or rifle each ethereal flow'r
From the clear rainbow's liquid blaze.
Then what, but these great landscapes wrought
By thine own hand, can praise aright?
Where substance seems to wed with thought,
And words delude the raptur'd sight:
Where fancy'd currents seem to rill,
And murmur through the magic line:
Where swells sublime th' ideal hill,
And o'er the page glib light'nings shine.
Then oft let Genius young peruse
That page divine, with studious care;
Meanwhile the much-astonish'd muse
Finds her own soul reflected there.

256

And oh! from thy superior sphere,
Shade ever sacred to this heart,
Lull with high sounds my chasten'd ear,
Th' imperishable flame impart!
 

On which no lightning has effect.

The allusion in almost every stanza of this hymn, to some particular passage in the Seasons, need not to be pointed out to the eye of taste.