On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art)
Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart
The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind,
And dip the point in poison for the mind;
Each polisht shaft with snow-white plumage wing,
Or strain the bow reluctant to its string.
Those on light pinion twine with busy hands,
Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands;
Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high,
Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly;
Call the young zephyrs to their fragrant bowers,
And stay with kisses sweet the vernal hours.
WHERE, as proud Masson rises rude and bleak,
And with mishapen turrets crests the peak,
Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath,
And o'er scar'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth;
Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil
Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil.
Impetuous steams in spiral columns rise
Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies;
Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow,
As heave and toss the billowy fires below;
Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide
From Masson's dome, and burst his sparry side;
Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls,
From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls;
In beds of stalactite, bright ores among,
O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along;
Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood,
And sparkling plunges to its parent flood.
O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides,
Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides,
(The blooming FUCUS) in her sparry coves
To amorous echo sings his secret loves,
Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream,
And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam.
So, erst, an angel o'er Bethesda's springs,
Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings;
And as his bright translucent form he laves,
Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves.
WHERE Andes, crested with volcanic beams, Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams; Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves, And feels and freights the immeasurable waves; Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours
Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers;
Love's rising ray, and youth's seductive dye,
Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye;
Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced
IIer tender breast, as, white, as pure, as chaste;
By four fond swains in playful circles drawn,
On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn,
Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms,
And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms.
Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air,
Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair,
Incrusts her beamy form with films saline,
And beauty blazes through the crystal shrine.
So with pellucid studs the ice-flower gems
Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems.
So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes,
The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes;
Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale,
And wheeling shines in adamantine mail.
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