 | The poetical works of Henry Kirke White |  |
TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE, K. G.
I.1.
Retired, remote from human noise,An humble Poet dwelt serene;
His lot was lowly, yet his joys
Were manifold, I ween.
He laid him by the brawling brook
At eventide to ruminate,
He watched the swallow skimming round,
And mused, in reverie profound,
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And pondered much, and paused on deeds of ancient date.
II.1.
“Oh, 'twas not always thus,” he cried,“There was a time, when Genius claimed
Respect from even towering Pride,
Nor hung her head ashamed:
But now to Wealth alone we bow,
The titled and the rich alone
Are honoured, while meek Merit pines,
On Penury's wretched couch reclines,
Unheeded in his dying moan,
As, overwhelmed with want and woe, he sinks unknown.
III.1.
“Yet was the Muse not always seenIn Poverty's dejected mien,
Not always did repining rue,
And misery her steps pursue.
Time was, when nobles thought their titles graced
By the sweet honours of poetic bays,
When Sidney sung his melting song,
When Sheffield joined the harmonious throng,
And Lyttelton attuned to love his lays.
Those days are gone—alas, for ever gone!
No more our nobles love to grace
Their brows with anadems, by genius won,
But arrogantly deem the Muse as base;
How different thought the sires of this degenerate race!”
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I.2
Thus sang the minstrel:—still at eveThe upland's woody shades among
In broken measures did he grieve,
With solitary song.
And still his shame was aye the same,
Neglect had stung him to the core;
And he with pensive joy did love
To seek the still congenial grove,
And muse on all his sorrows o'er,
And vow that he would join the abjured world no more.
II.2.
But human vows, how frail they be!Fame brought Carlisle unto his view,
And all amazed, he thought to see
The Augustan age anew.
Filled with wild rapture, up he rose,
No more he ponders on the woes
Which erst he felt that forward goes,
Regrets he'd sunk in impotence,
And hails the ideal day of virtuous eminence.
III.2
Ah! silly man, yet smarting soreWith ills which in the world he bore,
Again on futile hope to rest,
An unsubstantial prop at best,
And not to know one swallow makes no summer!
Ah! soon he'll find the brilliant gleam,
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Illumining the darkness there,
Was but a single solitary beam,
While all around remained in customed night.
Still leaden Ignorance reigns serene,
In the false court's delusive height,
And only one Carlisle is seen
To illume the heavy gloom with pure and steady light.
| The poetical works of Henry Kirke White | |