Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird That sings beside thy mate ; Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, And my fause luver staw the rose, 10 15 20 R. BURNS. 140 THE PROGRESS OF POESY A Pindaric Ode Awake, Aeolian lyre, awake, And give to rapture all thy trembling strings. A thousand rills their mazy progress take : Through verdant vales and Ceres' golden reign ; 5 10 The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar. O Sovereign of the willing soul, Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, And frantic Passions hear thy soft control. On Thracia's hills the Lord of War Has curb'd the fury of his car 15 And dropt his thirsty lance at thy command. Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king The terror of his beak, and lightnings of his eye. Thee the voice, the dance, obey The rosy-crownéd Loves are seen 20 25 With antic Sports, and blue-eyed Pleasures, 30 Frisking light in frolic measures ; Now pursuing, now retreating, Now in circling troops they meet : To brisk notes in cadence beating Glance their many-twinkling feet. 35 Slow melting strains their Queen's approach declare: Man's feeble race what ills await! Labour, and Penury, the racks of Pain, Disease, and Sorrow's weeping train, And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate! The fond complaint, my song, disprove, And justify the laws of Jove. Say, has he given in vain the heavenly Muse ? Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry Till down the eastern cliffs afar 40 44 50 Hyperion's march they spy, and glittering shafts of war. In climes beyond the solar road, Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam, The Muse has broke the twilight gloom To cheer the shivering native's dull abode. And oft, beneath the odorous shade Of Chili's boundless forests laid, She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat 56 60 In loose numbers wildly sweet Their feather-cinctured chiefs, and dusky loves. Her track, where'er the Goddess roves, Glory pursue, and generous Shame, Th' unconquerable Mind, and Freedom's holy flame. Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep, Or where Maeander's amber waves In lingering lab'rinths creep, How do your tuneful echoes languish, Till the sad Nine, in Greece's evil hour, Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains. Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant Power, 65 70 75 And coward Vice, that revels in her chains. 80 When Latium had her lofty spirit lost, They sought, O Albion, next thy sea-encircled coast. Far from the sun and summer-gale In thy green lap was Nature's Darling laid, To him the mighty Mother did unveil 85 This pencil take (she said), whose colours clear Thine, too, these golden keys, immortal Boy! Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears, Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic Tears. Nor second He, that rode sublime Upon the seraph-wings of Ecstasy, The secrets of the Abyss to spy: 90 95 He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time : He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Behold where Dryden's less presumptuous car Two coursers of ethereal race 100 105 With necks in thunder clothed, and long-resounding pace. Hark, his hands the lyre explore! Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. O! Lyre divine, what daring Spirit Nor the pride, nor ample pinion, Yet oft before his infant eyes would run With orient hues, unborrow'd of the sun : 109 115 120 Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate : Beneath the Good how far-but far above the Great. T. GRAY. 141 THE PASSIONS An Ode for Music When Music, heavenly maid, was young, First Fear his hand, its skill to try, Next Anger rush'd, his eyes on fire, 5 10 15 20 'Twas sad by fits, by starts 'twas wild. But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair, 30 Still it whisper'd promised pleasure And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail ! |