Ode to the Lyric Muse

I. 1.
Say, will the Lyric Muse
The themes of tender love refuse?
Tho she with haughty state presides
Over the big tumultuous tides,
Which down the sacred mountain pour,
And stun the ear with deafening roar;
Yet where more gentle currents stray,
And thro the flowery vallies play,
Laughing with transport as they flow,
Where roses and where myrtles grow,
Her hair with wreathes She oft has crown'd,
And scatter'd her enchanting blessings round.

I. 2.
Long in the Grecian isles,
Retain'd by Cytheraea's smiles,
Enamour'd of her rosy hue,
While frolic pleasures round her flew,
Stole from her lips the nectar'd kiss,
And bathed their light-plumed wings in bliss;
While Hebe danced with graceful tread,
And the soft airs, and passions led;
While sallying from her temple's porch,
Young Love waved high his magic torch,
Thou too with sweetest look appear'd,
And often thy melodious voice was heard.

I. 3.
Hast thou forgot the melting strain
Which taught by thee thy Sappho sung,
When stretch'd upon the Lesbian plain,
O'er her the form of tender Pity hung?
Didst thou not bountifully shed
Thy visions o'er Anacreon's head?
And e'en the frozen breast of age,
In amorous nets and toils engage,
While all the virgins wondering stood,
And laugh'd, yet found themselves subdued?
And when he immaturely died,
Say, did not Grief thy heavenly beauties hide?

II. 1.
On what wide-seated shore
Do mortals now thy name adore,
Celestial Love? Thy haunts of old,
What clouds of sullen gloom enfold!
How sunk in shades thy influence bright
Diffusing then it's genial light!
Within th' incircled Haram reign
Tyrannic Lust, and jealous Pain,
Bitter Constraint, internal Fears,
Lean Anguish, and corroding Cares;
Unknown are there the mutual sighs
Which from the sympathetic breast arise.

II. 2.
Thy more than human mien
By yellow Tiber oft was seen;
And ere the Roman eagle flew
The sons of Britain to subdue,
With native Innocence allied,
Haply thy power did here reside;
But big with plenitude of woes,
From the rank earth a pest arose;
Nature his shape with grief espied,
And for her death-doom'd offspring sigh'd;
They sunk beneath, an easy prey,
And Love fled far from Avarice away.

II. 3.
Didst thou then seek Columbia's strand,
There thy propitious forehead shew,
While raised by thy creative hand,
The blooming flowers of social rapture grew?
Too short a time, alas! from thence
Didst thou thy radiant gifts dispense:
Behold, th' impetuous monster haste,
Rapine, and Violence, and Waste,
Follow attendant on his flight:
And lo, before thy pitying sight,
Weltering in blood thy people lies,
To cursed gold the fated sacrifice.

III. 1.
By force exiled, ah! where
Did thy insulted steps repair!
Some island in the southern main,
Perhaps enjoy'd thy bounteous reign;
Or didst thou steer thy vagrant course
To Orellana's distant source?
There while in artlessness array'd,
The youth beholds his sun-burnt maid;
There while of every wish possest,
He leans with fondness on her breast,
Thou seest them in the palmy grove,
And e'er their heads thy purple pinions move.

III. 2.
There too the heavenly Muse
Showers perchance her kindly dews,
While thus some Indian Horace sings,
As to his love he strikes the strings.
"Ah, when you praise my rival's charms,
"His comely neck, and graceful arms,
"With passion swells my fervid breast,
"With passion hard to be supprest:
"My senses float in terrors vain,
"My blood retreats, and comes again;
"The tears steal down my cheeks, and say,
"With what slow fires I totally decay."

III. 3.
Oh, if with me, ye gentle powers,
Ye sometimes would but deign to dwell,
Borne by the quickly-circling hours,
If ye would visit my sequester'd cell:
One who with pure emotion glows,
Who not the face of Avarice knows,
Nor by Ambition drawn aside,
But owning Nature for his guide;
Who from his earliest day of youth,
Confess'd her charms, and worship'd Truth;
Ye in that secret cell should find,
And subject to your laws, a willing mind.