POEMS FROM THE EPICUREAN.
FAR as the sight can reach, beneath as clear And blue a heaven as ever blessed this sphere, Gardens, and pillared streets, and porphyry domes And high-built temples, fit to be the homes Of mighty gods, and pyramids, whose hour Outlasts all time, above the waters tower !
Then, too, the scenes of pomp and joy that make One theatre of this vast peopled lake,
Where all that Love, Religion, Commerce gives Of life and motion, ever moves and lives. Here, up the steps of temples, from the wave Ascending, in procession slow and grave,
Priests in white garments go, with sacred wands And silver cymbals gleaming in their hands:
While there, rich barks-fresh from those sunny tracts Far off, beyond the sounding cataracts- Glide with their precious lading to the sea, Plumes of bright birds, rhinoceros' ivory, Gems from the isle of Meroë, and those grains Of gold, washed down by Abyssinian rains.
Here, where the waters wind into a bay Shadowy and cool, some pilgrims on their way To Sais or Bubastus, among beds
Of lotus flowers that close above their heads, Push their light barks, and hid, as in a bower, Sing, talk, or sleep away the sultry hour, While haply, not far off, beneath a bank Of blossoming acacias, many a prank Is played in the cool current by a train
Of laughing nymphs, lovely as she whose chain Around two conquerors of the world was cast; But, for a third too feeble, broke at last.
Glimpses of glory ne'er forgot,
That tell, like gleams on a sunset sea, What once hath been, what now is not, But oh! what again shall brightly be!'
O ABYSSINIAN tree,
We pray, we pray to thee; By the glow of thy golden fruit And the violet hue of thy flower, And the greeting mute
Of thy boughs' salute
To the stranger who seeks thy bower.
O Abyssinian tree!
How the traveller blesses thee; When the light no moon allows, And the sunset hour is near, And thou bend'st thy boughs To kiss his brows,
Saying, 'Come, rest thee here.' O Abyssinian tree!
Thus bow thy head to me!
SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET,
« AnteriorContinuar » |