Poems on various subjects by Charles Lloyd |
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SONG. Rosamund Gray.
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 | Poems on various subjects |  |
36
SONG. Rosamund Gray.
Let the Pander of Vice, and the Minion of Power,
Claim the blasphemous boon of a verse;
Let the Poet who sings for the infamous dower,
Ambition's mad actions rehearse.
The child of Misfortune who's bent to the earth,
Shall live in my incondite lay;
I'll boast the intuitive feelings of worth,—
The virtues of Rosamund Gray.
Claim the blasphemous boon of a verse;
Let the Poet who sings for the infamous dower,
Ambition's mad actions rehearse.
The child of Misfortune who's bent to the earth,
Shall live in my incondite lay;
I'll boast the intuitive feelings of worth,—
The virtues of Rosamund Gray.
If actions are great, no one cares if they're good,
A Tyrant's a reverenc'd name,
The Grant of Renown is imprinted in Blood,
And a sword is a passport to Fame.
And I've mark'd honest Virtue with misery bow'd,
Tho' she urge inoffensive her way;
Yes, feelings I've mark'd that would honour the proud,
In the bosom of Rosamund Gray.
A Tyrant's a reverenc'd name,
The Grant of Renown is imprinted in Blood,
And a sword is a passport to Fame.
And I've mark'd honest Virtue with misery bow'd,
Tho' she urge inoffensive her way;
Yes, feelings I've mark'd that would honour the proud,
In the bosom of Rosamund Gray.
37
A woman when blest with the trappings of wealth,
Is chang'd to an Angel at once,
Omnipotent affluence may bargain for health,
'Twill give sense to the Blockhead or Dunce.
Here is One who's without it, is sunk to a slave,
Tho' Infirmity's impotent prey,
And Nature's simplicity sinks to the grave,
Unnotic'd in Rosamund Gray.
Is chang'd to an Angel at once,
Omnipotent affluence may bargain for health,
'Twill give sense to the Blockhead or Dunce.
Here is One who's without it, is sunk to a slave,
Tho' Infirmity's impotent prey,
And Nature's simplicity sinks to the grave,
Unnotic'd in Rosamund Gray.
The faithless, the selfish, the harden'd and proud,
If they're trickt out with features so nice,
Are officiously serv'd by the sycophant croud,
'Tis the apotheosis of vice:
But Worth, mean and homely, may work to the bone,
While spirits and strength shall decay:
And drop the big tear of dejection alone,
All unpitied like Rosamund Gray.
If they're trickt out with features so nice,
Are officiously serv'd by the sycophant croud,
'Tis the apotheosis of vice:
But Worth, mean and homely, may work to the bone,
While spirits and strength shall decay:
And drop the big tear of dejection alone,
All unpitied like Rosamund Gray.
The slow moving hearse, and the black nodding plume,
And Hypocrisy's statue like air,
And the far-tolling knell, and the sculpture-wrought tomb,
Soften death for the Rich and the Fair.
Yet Integrity's carelessly toss'd to the clod,
E'en the bell its dull tribute won't pay,
But simple Misfortune shall sigh o'er the sod
And condole with poor Rosamund Gray.
And Hypocrisy's statue like air,
And the far-tolling knell, and the sculpture-wrought tomb,
Soften death for the Rich and the Fair.
38
E'en the bell its dull tribute won't pay,
But simple Misfortune shall sigh o'er the sod
And condole with poor Rosamund Gray.
| Poems on various subjects | |