صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

What should We do but sing his praise, That led us through the watery maze, Unto an isle so long unknown,

And yet far kinder than our own? Where he the huge sea-monsters wracks, That lift the deep upon their backs. He lands us on a grassy stage, Safe from the storms, and prelate's rage, He gave us this eternal spring, Which here enamels every thing; And sends the fowls to us in care, On daily visits through the air. He hangs in shades the orange bright, Like golden lamps in a green night; And does in the pomegranates close Jewels more rich than Ormus shows. He makes the figs our mouths to meet; And throws the melons at our feet. But apples plants of such a price, No tree could ever bear them twice. With cedars, chosen by his hand, From Lebanon, he stores the land; And makes the hollow seas, that roar, Proclaim the ambergrease on shore. He cast (of which we rather boast) The gospel's pearl upon our coast; And in these rocks for us did frame A temple, where to sound his name. Oh! let our voice his praise exalt, Till it arrive at Heaven's vault: Which, thence (perhaps) rebounding, may, Echo beyond the Mexique Bay.

Thus sung they in the English boat,
An holy and a cheerful note;

And all the way, to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time.

ANDREW MARVELL.

To Althea. From Prison.

WHEN love with unconfined wings
Hovers within my gates;

And my divine Althea brings
To whisper at the grates:
When I lie tangled in her hair,
And fettered to her eye;

The birds that wanton in the air
Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round
With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound,
Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free,

Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.

When (like committed linnets) I

With shriller throat shall sing

The sweetness, mercy, majesty,
And glories of my king;

When I shall voice aloud, how good
He is, how great should be;
Enlarged winds, that curl the flood,
Know no such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,.
And in my soul am free;
Angels alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.

To Daffodils.

FAIR Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:

As yet the early-rising Sun
Has not attained his noon.
Stay, stay,

Until the hasting day

Has run

But to the Even-song ;

And, having prayed together, we

Will go with you along.

RICHARD LOVELACE,

[blocks in formation]

How delicious is the winning
Of a kiss at love's beginning,
When two mutual hearts are sighing
For the knot there's no untying!

Yet remember, 'midst your wooing,
Love has bliss, but Love has ruing;
Other smiles may make you fickle,
Tears for other charms may trickle.

Love he comes, and Love he tarries,
Just as fate or fancy carries;
Longest stays, when sorest chidden;

Laughs and flies, when pressed and bidden.

HERRICK.

Bind the sea to slumber stilly,
Bind its odour to the lily,
Bind the aspen ne'er to quiver,
Then bind Love to last for ever!

Love's a fire that needs renewal
Of fresh beauty for its fuel:

Love's wing moults when caged and captured,
Only free, he soars enraptured.

Can you keep the bee from ranging,
Or the ringdove's neck from changing?
No! nor fettered Love from dying
In the knot there 's no untying.

Dirge.

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

GLORIES, pleasures, pomps, delights, and ease,
Can but please

The outward senses, when the mind
Is or untroubled, or by peace refined.
Crowns may flourish and decay,
Beauties shine, but fade away.
Youth may revel, yet it must
Lie down in a bed of dust.
Earthly honours flow and waste,
Time alone doth change and last.

« السابقةمتابعة »