Sonnets and Fugitive Pieces :: :: University of Virginia Library

Now are we free to roam thy flowery dales,
Fair Greece! and where each ancient fountain flows;
Now are we frée to cull the lily' and rose,
That bloom so sweetly down thy noble vales:
And ye are free, Arcadian nightingales,
To lavish on the air your tuneful woes,
That sweetly rise and with all sweetness close
Where high Lycæus breathes of rural tales
And Pan, and jealous Lucretil surpast:
The fanes upon each ruin-cover'd wold,
They too are free to crumble undefac'd,
For Britain's future poets to behold,
That they may hold that sum of memories fast
Which is their dowry from the days of old!