 | A collection of poems |  |
42
To --- ---
With a Present of Peacock's Feathers.
SIR,
To your hands the little muse,
Again in grateful numbers flows;
As oft as she can bend the string,
She still has some new gift to sing.
Now that a small return be made,
She calls the peacock to her aid.
Her voice, his train, accept together:
—You sent a hat, I send a feather.
Again in grateful numbers flows;
As oft as she can bend the string,
She still has some new gift to sing.
Now that a small return be made,
She calls the peacock to her aid.
Her voice, his train, accept together:
—You sent a hat, I send a feather.
Poor Pavo, stript of all his pride,
Affects a melancholly stride;
He gives, to paint a bed for you,
His glitt'ring plumes of golden hue;
No more you see him, haughty, spread
All Argus' eyes around his head;
The heav'nly blue deserts his breast,
No jewels twinkle on his crest:
Alas! how alter'd ev'ry feature,
Could you but see the naked creature!
Affects a melancholly stride;
He gives, to paint a bed for you,
His glitt'ring plumes of golden hue;
No more you see him, haughty, spread
All Argus' eyes around his head;
The heav'nly blue deserts his breast,
No jewels twinkle on his crest:
Alas! how alter'd ev'ry feature,
Could you but see the naked creature!
On Ovid's verse I often look,
(Who wrote an English picture-book)
Such changes there I frequent see,
Narcissus-flow'r, and Daphne-tree.
Daphne, thy story suits our case,
Half-maid she runs, and sprouts half bays;
Phœbus pursu'd, fir'd with her charms,
And catch'd the laural in his arms:
So Pavo fled, while Servo chas'd,
'Till seiz'd, and in his arms embrac'd;
The sympathetic genius spread
His gloss decay'd, his colours fled;
Sober he wanders round the house,
No more a peacock—but a goose.
(Who wrote an English picture-book)
Such changes there I frequent see,
Narcissus-flow'r, and Daphne-tree.
43
Half-maid she runs, and sprouts half bays;
Phœbus pursu'd, fir'd with her charms,
And catch'd the laural in his arms:
So Pavo fled, while Servo chas'd,
'Till seiz'd, and in his arms embrac'd;
The sympathetic genius spread
His gloss decay'd, his colours fled;
Sober he wanders round the house,
No more a peacock—but a goose.
But tho' he stalks in dismal plight,
Rueful and horrid to the sight;
Thy groser shade, Alcides, so
Wanders a grimly ghost below;
The lighter soul with gods partakes
Immortal youth from Hebe's checks.
Rueful and horrid to the sight;
Thy groser shade, Alcides, so
Wanders a grimly ghost below;
The lighter soul with gods partakes
Immortal youth from Hebe's checks.
See, what collected beauties shine
On yonder blazing counterpain!
Improv'd each single feather shows,
And with redoubled lustre glows:
So Phœnix, wonder of the east!
Expires upon the genial nest;
In fertile flame consum'd she lies,
Withers to bloom, to vigour dies.
On yonder blazing counterpain!
Improv'd each single feather shows,
And with redoubled lustre glows:
So Phœnix, wonder of the east!
Expires upon the genial nest;
In fertile flame consum'd she lies,
Withers to bloom, to vigour dies.
44
Accept this off'ring as 'tis meant;
Measure the payment by th' intent,
'Twill make a figure in your ledger,
Measure the payment by th' intent,
'Twill make a figure in your ledger,
Your Nephew,
SIR,
The little Major.
| A collection of poems | |