 | Poems upon several Occasions |  |
ODE In Praise of BEAUTY.
I.
E're yet the Rowling Orb of EarthWas fashion'd, to receive its Birth,
The Gods in awful Counsel sate;
Long revolving, long They stay'd,
Unresolving, long delay'd,
In a fruitless, vain Debate,
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(What Pow'r has Heav'n when Love's not there?)
He Love consulted, He obey'd,
And so by Love the World was made.
First CHORUS.
Seraphick Joys the Heav'nly Host inspire;Then their Voices They raise
In loud Accents of Praise,
And join, and join in One Immortal Choir.
II.
The Thund'rer pleas'd their Song to hear,Shook with a Nod the Crystal Sphere;
And as of Heav'ns Creating Pow'rs They sung,
The Vaulted Skies with rattling Thunder rung,
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And celebrate Him for the greater God.
III.
To see, th' Ethereal People flocking came,To see, and wonder at the Glorious Frame:
A Thousand well-proportion'd Beauties rise
From ev'ry sweet, harmonious Part,
And all was manag'd with such Art,
That with new Admiration rais'd
They look'd,—again They look'd, and gaz'd,
And fed their ravish'd Eyes.
Second CHORUS.
Now All transported, Beauty cry,Beauty, Beauty, Heav'nly Beauty,
Beauty alone, Beauty alone is Harmony.
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IV.
Thus Beauty o're the Globe was first display'd,By Love, and Beauty thus the World was made.
But Jove in his Eternal Mind
A far more noble Form design'd;
He fram'd a lovely blooming Maid,
In soft attracting Charms array'd,
A Form ordain'd to rule the World He made:
Himself did most the Workmanship approve,
And nam'd the smiling Fair the beauteous Queen of Love.
V.
To Her He Pride, and Pity gave,This to Destroy, and That to Save;
Soft Compassion, cold Disdain,
To cause, and to redress the Lovers Pain:
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Words denying,
Looks complying,
Eyes that languish, Eyes that dying,
Melt in their own tender Fires.
Grand CHORUS.
Now ev'ry Tuneful String prepare,Sound all the Instruments of War,
To celebrate the Conquests of the Heavenly Fair.
Her matchless Glories thro' the World disperse,
And with Her Triumphs fill the Universe.
| Poems upon several Occasions | |