 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
On the ROSE:
from Anacreon.
In the Garland-bearing Spring,
To the Rose I strike the String,
Join the Consort while I sing.
To the Rose I strike the String,
Join the Consort while I sing.
89
Scented first by heav'nly Breath,
Sprung the Rose for Man beneath;
Fragant Blossom! yielding Joy,
Dear to Venus and her Boy;
To the Graces dear, in Hours
Full of Love, and full of Flow'rs:
To the Muses it belongs,
Subject of Poetick Songs.
Sweet to him, who haply strays,
Doubtful, slow, through thorny ways:
Sweet to her, who from the Stalk
Plucks it in her Morning's Walk;
That her Virgin Hand may move
To her Breast the Flow'r of Love.
Sprung the Rose for Man beneath;
Fragant Blossom! yielding Joy,
Dear to Venus and her Boy;
To the Graces dear, in Hours
Full of Love, and full of Flow'rs:
To the Muses it belongs,
Subject of Poetick Songs.
Sweet to him, who haply strays,
Doubtful, slow, through thorny ways:
Sweet to her, who from the Stalk
Plucks it in her Morning's Walk;
That her Virgin Hand may move
To her Breast the Flow'r of Love.
From the Rose what Pleasures rise,
To the Gay, and to the Wise!
This with gladsome Wreath invests
Vernal and Autumnal Feasts;
Grace and Ornament affords
To our Altars, and our Boards,
To the Gay, and to the Wise!
This with gladsome Wreath invests
Vernal and Autumnal Feasts;
Grace and Ornament affords
To our Altars, and our Boards,
Roses all that's fair adorn,
Rosy-finger'd is the Morn,
Rosy-arm'd the Nymphs are seen,
Rosy-skin'd is Beauty's Queen.
These the Sick and Languid please,
Nay the Dead are deck'd with these:
These can even conquer Time,
Since, when faded from their Prime
Still they breathe Perfume, and hold
Youthful Odour when they're old.
Rosy-finger'd is the Morn,
Rosy-arm'd the Nymphs are seen,
Rosy-skin'd is Beauty's Queen.
These the Sick and Languid please,
Nay the Dead are deck'd with these:
These can even conquer Time,
Since, when faded from their Prime
Still they breathe Perfume, and hold
Youthful Odour when they're old.
90
Say we whence the Rose's Bloom;
When, from the neglected Foam,
Hoary Ocean Venus gave
Dew-besprinkled from the Wave;
When Minerva, fierce and fair,
Queen of Tumult, and of War,
Issued from the Head of Jove,
Dreadful to the Realms above;
Then the gen'ral Mother Earth
Teem'd, and bore a flow'ry Birth,
New-born Rose, producing Thee,
Various, beauteous Progeny!
When, from the neglected Foam,
Hoary Ocean Venus gave
Dew-besprinkled from the Wave;
When Minerva, fierce and fair,
Queen of Tumult, and of War,
Issued from the Head of Jove,
Dreadful to the Realms above;
Then the gen'ral Mother Earth
Teem'd, and bore a flow'ry Birth,
New-born Rose, producing Thee,
Various, beauteous Progeny!
See the Gods in Council meet!
See the Soil with Nectar sweet
Soft they tinge! and quick the Rose
Sacred to Lyæus grows;
Deathless Flow'r, divinely born!
Glorious Offspring of the Thorn!
See the Soil with Nectar sweet
Soft they tinge! and quick the Rose
Sacred to Lyæus grows;
Deathless Flow'r, divinely born!
Glorious Offspring of the Thorn!
| Poems on Several Occasions | |