 | Juvenile poems on various subjects |  |
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ODE ON FRIENDSHIP. 1758.
I.
Friendship, all hail! thou dearest tie,We Mortals here below can claim,
To blend our else unhappy lives with joy;
My breast inspire
With thy true genuine fire,
While to thy sacred name,
I strike the golden lyre.
Cloath'd in pure empyrean light,
For vulgar eyes thou shin'st too bright;
For while they gaze,
Thy dazzling rays
Dim their too feeble sight;
But souls uncloy'd with sensual toys,
Souls who seek true mental joys,
May Phœnix-like sublimely soar,
May all thy heav'nly charms explore,
And wanton in the glorious blaze.
II.
O God! if now no charming maidWaits thy pencil's pow'rful aid,
That when her charms shall fade away,
And her pleasing form decay;
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Or heaving sighs betray her soul;
Still by thy art.
The stubborn heart
To melt, and into love betray—
Attend! I sing that pow'r divine,
Whose heav'nly influence sways such souls as thine—
Souls, by virtue made the same,
Friendship's pow'rful ties may claim:
And happy they,
Without allay,
Blest in the gen'rous flame,
III.
Thus in his tent immur'dThetis angry son,
Forgot the laurels he had won;
And whilst love's flames his bosom burn'd,
His beauteous captive lost he mourn'd;
And Ilium in his grief stood well secur'd:
All Græcia's chiefs dismaid,
Around him wait,
And vainly supplicate his aid.
Old Nestor's eloquence was vain,
Ulysses cunning could not gain
The chief to draw his sword.
In angry state,
He sullen sate,
Nor deign'd to give a word.
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IV.
But when Patroclus' much-lov'd shade,Pale, with blood and dust array'd,
Appear'd unto his view;
Friendship fir'd his godlike breast,
Conquer'd love the pow'r confest,
And in a sigh withdrew.
Thus, the Ghost—
“Attend, attend my call!
“Let not the vaunting Trojans boast;
“But oh! revenge my fall.”
With rage the Hero's bosom glows,
His blood in swifter current flows;
See, how his eye-balls roll!
And speak the anguish of his soul:
Revenge, revenge Patroclus cry'd:
Quick at the word,
He seiz'd his sword,
And clasp'd his seven-fold shield;
Revenge, revenge, Pelides loud reply'd,
And rush'd into the field.
V.
Wild as the wind he wentThro' the astonish'd foe;
While death his sad concomitant,
Attends each fatal blow.
With heaps of slain
He strews the plain;
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Huge oaks and lofty pines around he throws.
Cowards revive when he appears,
And banish from their breasts their fears,
Nor death can more affright;
His presence ev'ry bosom warms,
They clank with horrid din their arms;
And with new courage fraught renew the fight.
Now shouts around,
And dying cries,
A horrid sound!
Assail the skies,
And now the fainting Trojans yield
The long disputed honours of the field.
VI.
Round the field Achilles flies,For Hector he cries,
At length the Trojan chief espies,
Horribly glorious midst the war;
Upon his bloody shield the God of day,
Darts pendant rays;
The crimson mirror far
Reflects the blaze;
And all around him glories play.
Patroclus' mantle loosely slung,
The pledge of brave Achilles' love,
And by the fair Ægina wove;
Upon his manly shoulder hung.
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VII.
The fatal spoil Achilles spies,And indignation lightn'd in his eyes,
For friendship this, for friendship this, he said,
And in his bosom drove the shining blade.
Down the mighty Dardan fell,
And in a groan exspires;
Ill-fated Ilium gave a yell,
And dreads her future fired.
In vain all-beauteous Venus strove
To ward the threatning blow;
In vain she mov'd,
In vain she lov'd
Those raging sires,
And wild desires,
To Friendship's purer flame must bow,
Tho' Love the sensual appetite,
Tumultuous raise a while,
Friendship yields a calm delight,
And will for ever smile.
| Juvenile poems on various subjects | |