Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

7 (For | human | good depends on | human | will,) 7 |

7 Our | fortune | rolls 7 | as from a smooth de

scent, 7

| And from the first im | pression, | takes the | bent; 7 | |

But if un seiz'd, 7|7 she | glides a | way like | wind, 7 |

7 And | leaves re | penting | Folly | far behind. 7

| ||

Now, 7 now she | meets you | 7 with a | glorious |

prize, 7 |

7 And spreads her | locks before you | 7 as she flies. 7 ||

[ocr errors]

7 Had thus old | David, | 7 from whose | loins you | spring, 7 |

Not 7 | dar'd, 7 | 7 when | Fortune | call'd 7 | him, 7 | 7 to be | king, 7 |

7 At | Gath, 7 | 7 an | exile | he might | still 7 | 7 rẻ | main, 7 |

7 And | Heaven's a | nointing | oil, 7 | 7 had been in | vain. 7 ||

Let his successful | youth 7 | 7 your hopes en

[ocr errors][merged small]

7 But | shun | 7 the ex | ample | 7 of declining | age; 7 | |

7 Behold him | setting | 7 in his | western | skies,

71

7 The | shadows | lengthening, | 7 as the vapours | rise. 7 | | |

He is not now 7 | as when on | Jordan's | sand

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

7 The joyful people | throng'd to see him |

land, |

Covering the beach, 7 | 7 and | blackening | all the | strand; 7 | | |

But 7 | like the | prince of | angels, 7 | 7 from his | height, 7 |

| Comes 7 tumbling | downward, | 7 with di | minish'd | light, 7||

7 Betray'd by one 7 | poor 7 | plot | 7 to | public scorn! 7|

7 (Our only | blessing | 7 since his | curs'd re | turn!) 7 | | |

Those heaps of people, | 7 which | one 7 | sheaf7 | did 7 | bind, 7 |

Blown 7 off, and scatter'd | 7 by a puff of | wind. 7||

What strength can he, | 7 to your de | signs op | pose, 7 |

Naked of friends, 7 | 7 and | round be set with | foes? 7|||

7 If Pharaoh's | doubtful | succour | 7 he should { use, 7

A foreign | aid 7 | 7 would | more in | cense the | Jews: 7| |

Proud 7 | Egypt | 7 would dis | sembled | friendship | bring, 7 |

7 Foment the war, 7 | 7 but not support the

king: 7

Nor would the royal | party | e'er unite 7 | 7 With Pharaoh's arms, 7 | 7 to assist the | Jebusite;

| Or if they should, 7|7 their | interest | soon would: | break, 7 | |

And with such | odious | aid, 7 7 make | David | weak. 7 |

All 7 sorts of men, 77 by | my successful |

arts, 7 |

|

| 7 Ab | horring | kings, 7|7 estrange their | alter'd hearts 7 |:

7 From | David's rule: 7 and 'tis their | general cry, 7 |

7 Religion, || Commonwealth, | 7 and | Liberty!

[ocr errors]

7 If you, 7 | 7 as | champion of the | public | good,

Add to their arms, 7 | 7 a | chief of royal blood,

What may not | Israel | hope, 7 | 7 and | what ap | plause 7 |

7 Might | such a general | gain, 77 by such a | cause! 7 | |

Not 7 | barren | praise 7 | 7 a | lone, 7|that | gaudy | Aower, 7 |

Fair | only to the | sight, | 7 but | solid | power; { 1

7. And nobler | 7 is a limited com | mand, 7 | | Giv'n by the love of | all your | native | land, 7 | 1 | Than a successive | title, . | long and dark, 7

[ocr errors]

Drawn from the | mouldy | rolls 7 | 7 of | Noah's |

ark. | | |

APOSTROPHE TO LIGHT.

MILTON.

Hail holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first born,

Or of the Eternal co-eternal beam,

May I express thee unblam'd? Since God is light, And never but in unapproached light

Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,

Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hears't thou rather, pure etherial stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
Before the Heav'ns thou, wert, and at the voice
Of God as with a mantle, didst invest

The rising world of waters dark and deep
Won from the void and formless infinite.

Thee I revisit now with bolder wing,

Escap'd the Stygian pool though long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn while in my flight

Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
With other notes than to the Orphean lyre

I sung of chaos and eternal night.

Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down

The dark descent,and up to re-ascend,
Though hard and rare; thee I revisit safe
And feel thy sov'reign vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs
Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the muses haunt,
Clear spring or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee Sion, and the flow'ry brooks beneath
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget

Those other two equall'd with me in fate,
So were I equall'd with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides,
And Tyresias and Phineus, prophets old
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling and in shadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not to me returns

Day or the sweet approach of ev'n and morn;
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;

« AnteriorContinuar »