 | Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems by the late Thomas Russell |  |
1
SONNET. I.
In days of old, ere charm'd at length to rest
Stern Chivalry her idle spear uphung,
Sweet mid loud arms the Minstrel's music rung;
In each proud castle, at the gorgeous feast,
Mix'd with bold Chiefs he sat, an honour'd guest;
Cheer'd with the genial rites, his lyre he strung,
War, Love, the Wizard, and the Fay he sung,
And fir'd with rapture each impassion'd breast:
Such were the strains, which in her livelier prime
Bright Fancy pour'd; but ah! they're heard no more!
Yet is not Genius dead: the song sublime
Might burst in tides as copious as of yore;
But Want, grim Monster, checks the raging rhyme,
And damps the Poet's wing outstretch'd to soar.
Stern Chivalry her idle spear uphung,
Sweet mid loud arms the Minstrel's music rung;
In each proud castle, at the gorgeous feast,
Mix'd with bold Chiefs he sat, an honour'd guest;
Cheer'd with the genial rites, his lyre he strung,
War, Love, the Wizard, and the Fay he sung,
And fir'd with rapture each impassion'd breast:
Such were the strains, which in her livelier prime
Bright Fancy pour'd; but ah! they're heard no more!
Yet is not Genius dead: the song sublime
Might burst in tides as copious as of yore;
But Want, grim Monster, checks the raging rhyme,
And damps the Poet's wing outstretch'd to soar.
| Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems by the late Thomas Russell | |