POEMS OF FANCY. I. THE IMAGINATION. FANTASY. FROM "THE VISION OF DELIGHT." BREAK, Fantasy, from thy cave of cloud, And various shapes of things; Create of airy forms a stream, It must have blood, and naught of phlegm; And though it be a waking dream, Yet let it like an odor rise To all the senses here, And fall like sleep upon their eyes, Or music in their ear. HALLO, MY FANCY. IN melancholic fancy, Out of myself, In the vulcan dancy, BEN JONSON. All the world surveying, Nowhere staying, Just like a fairy elf; Out o'er the tops of highest mountains skipping, Out o'er the hills, the trees and valleys tripping, Out o'er the ocean seas, without an oar or shipping. Hallo, my fancy, whither wilt thou go? Amidst the misty vapors, Fain would I know What doth cause the tapers; Why the clouds benight us, While we travel here below. Fain would I know what makes the roaring thunder, And what these lightnings be that rend the clouds. asunder, And what these comets are on which we gaze and wonder. Hallo, my fancy, whither wilt thou go? Fain would I know the reason Why the little ant, All the summer season, Layeth up provision, On condition To know no winter's want: And how these little fishes, that swim beneath salt water, Do never blind their eyes; methinks it is a matter An inch above the reach of old Erra Pater! Hallo, my fancy, whither wilt thou go? Fain would I be resolved How things are done; And where the bull was calved Of bloody Phalaris, And where the tailor is That works to the man i' the moon! Fain would I know how Cupid aims so rightly; And how these little fairies do dance and leap so lightly; And where fair Cynthia makes her ambles nightly. Hallo, my fancy, whither wilt thou go? In conceit like Phaeton, I'll mount Phoebus' chair, Having ne'er a hat on, Hurrying through the air. Fain would I hear his fiery horses neighing, O, from what ground of nature That self-devouring creature, Prove so froward And untoward, Her vitals for to strain? And why the subtle fox, while in death's wounds is lying, Doth not lament his pangs by howling and by crying; |