She ends the Fates, that will no more reveal, Fix on her closing lips their sacred seal. 'Return, sweet shade!' I wake, and fondly say, 'O, cheer my gloom with one far-beaming ray! Return: thy charms my sorrow will dispel, And snatch my spirit from her mortal cell; Then, mix'd with thine, exulting she shall fly, And bound enraptur'd through her native sky.' She comes no more: my pangs more fierce return: Tears gush in streams, and sighs my bosom burn. Ye banks, that oft my weary limbs have borne, Ye murmuring brooks, that learnt of me to mourn; Ye birds, that tune with me your plaintive lay; Ye groves, where love once taught my steps to stray; You, ever sweet and ever fair, renew Your strains melodious, and your blooming hue: But not in my sad heart can bliss remain, My heart the haunt of never-ceasing pain! Henceforth,-to sing in smoothly-warbled lays The smiles of youth, and beauty's heavenly rays; To see the morn her early charms unfold, Her cheeks of roses, and her curls of gold; Led by the sacred Muse, at noon to rove O'er tufted mountain, vale, or shady grove; To watch the stars, that gild the lucid pole, And view yon orbs in mazy order roll; To hear the tender nightingale complain, And warble to the woods her amorous strain:No more shall these my pensive soul delight, But each gay vision melts in endless night. Nymphs! who in glimmering glades by moon light dance, And ye, who through the liquid crystal glance, AN ODE OF PETRARCH, To the Fountain of Valchiusa. YE clear and sparkling streams! (Warm'd by the sunny beams) Through whose transparent crystal Laura play'd; That crown yon vernal bowers, My bursting heart, and close my eyes in death; That, here my urn may rest, When to its mansion flies my vital breath. This pleasing hope will smooth My anxious mind, and soothe The pangs of that inevitable hour; My spirit will not grieve Her mortal veil to leave In these calm shades, and this enchanting bow'r. Haply, the guilty maid Thro' yon accustom'd glade To my sad tomb will take her lonely way; O'erpower'd my dazzled sight, When love on this fair border bade me stray: There, sorrowing, shall she see, Beneath an aged tree, Her true, but hapless, lover's lowly bier; Too late, her tender sighs Shall melt the pitying skies, And her soft veil shall hide the gushing tear. O! well-remember'd day, When on yon bank she lay, Meek in her pride, and in her rigour mild; The young and blooming flowers, Falling in fragrant showers, Shone on her neck, and on her bosom smil'd: Some on her mantle hung, Some in her locks were strung, Like orient gems in rings of flaming gold; Some, in a spicy cloud Descending, call'd aloud, 'Here Love and Youth the reins of empire hold.' I view'd the heavenly maid; And, rapt in wonder, said 'The groves of Eden gave this angel birth;' Her look, her voice, her smile, That might all Heaven beguile, Wafted my soul above the realms of earth: The star-bespangled skies Were open'd to my eyes; Sighing I said, 'Whence rose this glittering scene?" Since that auspicious hour, This bank, and odorous bower, My morning couch, and evening haunt have been. Well may'st thou blush, my song, To leave the rural throng, And fly thus artless to my Laura's ear; But, were thy poet's fire Ardent as his desire, Thou wert a song that Heaven might stoop to hear. SOLIMA, An Arabian Eclogue. Written in 1768. E maids of Aden! hear a loftier tale 'YE Than e'er was sung in meadow, bower, or dale. -The smiles of Abelah, and Maia's eyes, Where beauty plays, and love in slumber lies; The fragrant hyacinths of Azza's hair, That wanton with the laughing summer-air; But fly like dreams before the morning ray. Fair Solima! the distant echoes ring. To charm the soul, or to beguile the sight; Come to these groves, and these life-breathing glades, 'When, chill'd with fear, the trembling pilgrim roves Darts through the quivering shades her heavenly ray, And spreads with rising flowers his solitary way. 'Ye heavens, for this in showers of sweetness shed Your mildest influence o'er her favour'd head! Long may her name, which distant climes shall praise, Live in our notes, and blossom in our lays! |