Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

III.

He fovran Prieft ftooping his regal head,
That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes,
Poor fleshly tabernacle entered,

His ftarry front low-rooft beneath the skies;
O what a mask was there, what a disguise!

15

20

Yet more; the ftroke of death he must abide,
Then lies him meekly down faft by his brethren's fide.
IV.

These latest scenes confine my roving verfe,
To this horizon is my Phoebus bound;
His Godlike acts, and his temptations fierce,
And former sufferings other-where are found;
Loud o'er the reft Cremona's trump doth found;
Me fofter airs befit, and fofter strings

Of lute, or viol ftill, more apt for mournful things.

V.

Befriend me, Night, beft patronefs of grief,
Over the pole thy thickest mantle throw,

And work my flatter'd fancy to belief,

That Heav'n and Earth are color'd with my woe;
My forrows are too dark for day to know:

25

30

The leaves fhould all be black whereon I write, And letters where my tears have wafli'd a wannish

white.

35

VI.

See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels,

That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood,

My spirit fome tranfporting Cherub feels,

To

To bear me where the towers of Salem ftood,
Once glorious tow'rs, now funk in guiltless blood; 40
There doth my soul in holy vision fit
In pensive trance, and anguish, and ecstatic fit.

VII.

Mine eye hath found that fad fepulchral rock
That was the casket of Heav'n's richest store,
And here though grief my feeble hands up-lock, 45
Yet on the foften'd quarry would I score
My plaining verse as lively as before;

For fure fo well inftructed are my tears,

That they would fitly fall in order'd characters.

VIII.

Or fhould I thence hurried on viewless wing,
Take up a weeping on the mountains wild,
The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring
Would foon unbofom all their echoes mild,
And I (for grief is easily beguil'd)

50

Might think th' infection of my forrows loud Had got a race of mourners on some pregnant cloud.

55

This fubject the Author finding to be above the years he had, when he wrote it, and nothing satisfied with what was begun, left it unfinish'd.

V. ON

FLY

ས.

ΟΝ ΤΙΜ Ε.

LY envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whofe fpeed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, Which is no more than what is false and vain, And merely mortal dross;

So little is our lofs,

So little is thy gain.

For when as each thing bad thou hast intomb'd,
And last of all thy greedy felf confum'd,

Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss

With an individual kifs;

And Joy fhall overtake us as a flood,

When every thing that is fincerely good

[ocr errors][merged small]

And perfectly divine,

With truth, and peace, and love, shall ever shine
About the fupreme throne

Of him, t' whose happy-making fight alone

When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall climb,

Then all this earthy groffnefs quit,

Attir'd with stars, we fhall for ever fit,

15

20

Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time.

VI. UPON

Y

VI.

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION.

E flaming Powers, and winged Warriors bright, That erft with mufic, and triumphant fong, First heard by happy watchful shepherds' ear, So fweetly fung your joy the clouds along Through the foft filence of the lift'ning night; Now mourn, and if sad share with us to bear Your fiery effence can distil no tear, Burn in your fighs, and borrow

Seas wept from our deep forrow:

He who with all Heav'n's heraldry whilere
Enter'd the world, now bleeds to give us ease;
Alas, how foon our fin

Sore doth begin

His infancy to seize!

O more exceeding love or law more just!
Juft law indeed, but more exceeding love!
For we by rightful doom remediless
Were loft in death, till he that dwelt above
High thron'd in fecret blifs, for us frail dust
Emptied his glory, ev'n to nakedness;

And that great covenant which we still transgress
Entirely fatisfied,

And the full wrath befide

Of vengeful justice bore for our excess,

And feals obedience first with wounding smart
This day, but O ere long

Huge pangs and strong

Will pierce more near his heart.

S

ΤΟ

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

VII. AT

VII.

AT A SOLEMN MUSIC.

BLEST pair of Syrens, pledges of Heav'n's joy,

Wed

Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verfe,
your divine founds, and mix'd power employ
Dead things with inbreath'd sense able to pierce,
And to our high-rais'd phantasy present
That undisturbed fong of pure concent,
Ay fung before the fapphire-color'd throne
To him that fits thereon

With faintly fhout and folemn jubilee,
Where the bright Seraphim in burning row
Their loud up-lifted angel-trumpets blow,
And the cherubic hoft in thousand quires
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires,
With thofe juft Spirits that wear victorious palms,
Hymns devout and holy pfalms

5

10

15

Singing everlastingly;

That we on earth with undifcording voice

May rightly answer that melodious noife;
As once we did, till difproportion'd fin

Jarr'd against nature's chime, and with harsh din
Broke the fair mufic that all creatures made

20

To their great Lord, whofe love their motion sway'd In perfect diapafon, whilst they stood

In firft obedience, and their state of good.

O may we foon again renew that song,

25

And keep in tune with Heav'n, till God ere long
To his celeftial concert us unite,

To live with him, and fing in endless morn of light!

VIII. An

« AnteriorContinuar »