Ode: Envy

I.
When in Creation's early morn
Merit, Virtue's child was born,
Malevolence and bloated Pride
With hostile frown her beauties spied.
In a darkling glen where grew
No other tree but noxious yew,
No trace was mark'd of cheerful green,
They by fated union led,
Press'd their baneful nuptial bed,
And Envy rose to light, their progeny obscene.

II.
Her birth the Furies hail; with joy
For her their utmost cares employ;
O'er her limbs, and on her head
Stygian venom copious shed,
Give her blood-drencht robes to wear,
Steel her heart to pity's tear,
Arm her tongue with falshood's stings,
(Muttering spells) imbue her breath
With vapours from the cave of death,
Plume with revenge her crest, with terror imp her wings.

III.
Forth She flies with direful rage,
Immortal war prepared to wage
Where'er with wreathe celestial crown'd,
Haply Merit may be found.
Nature views her course, aghast,
Sudden struck with sickening blast
The verdant plants, and blooming flowers
Their heads decline, the fruits decay,
The feather'd songsters cease their lay,
And glory's laurels shrink, and beauty's roseate bowers.

IV.
Offspring of Heaven's dread King alone,
Firm assessor of his throne,
Truth the spreading ruin spies,
Glowing with indignant eyes,
In radiant panoply draws near,
In her hands the shield and spear
Gift of all-o'er-ruling Jove,
When She first assay'd her might
In the fierce Titanic fight,
And down to lowest hell the base Pretenders drove.

V.
She o'er Merit lifts her shield;
Yield thou Fiend! O Envy yield!
Pierced She falls, again to rise,
Rancorous Envy never dies.
Truth disclaims her warrior art,
But implants in Merit's heart
(Breathing fortitude divine)
Conscious Honour; undismay'd
Stands the self-protected maid,
Thro all her frame within, unclouded glories shine.

VI.
To Greece my varying notes belong,
Exhaustless fount of sacred song.
Transfixt by Phoebus' orient beam
Tho Python fell by Nilus' stream;
In Lerne's marsh the Hydra stood,
Till by Alcides' might subdued;
Yet then survived her latent power:
'Twas Envy's poison'd garb he wore
Distain'd with Nessus' fabled gore,
Which with severest pangs o'erwhelm'd his dying hour.

VII.
But genuine Worth, each toil o'erpast,
Will gain th' Olympian dome at last,
Whose path thro life with thick-wove cloud
The mists of black Avernus shroud:
Till Time assists despairing Truth,
And weds him to unfading youth,
To Fame, which lovelier blooms by years
The Hebe she, in blest abodes
Who pours forth nectar for the Gods,
And to their raptured lips the sparkling goblet bears

VIII.
Perish the Slaves! whom no desire
Of her unrivall'd charms can fire.
Whom Envy's threatening voice dismays
Far from the haunts which lead to praise.
Whom Calumny forbids to rise,
Who dare not view the distant skies.
Who abject, on life's transient day
For all their sum of good rely,
Flattery's vain breath, gold's vainer ray,
The gawds of futile pomp, and nauseous pageantry.

IX.
Had not untired, th' heroic soul
With Envy struggling reach'd the goal,
No Bard had tuned the deathless strain,
No Patriot crush'd a Tyrant's reign,
By wisdom taught, with generous mind
No Sage had civilized mankind;
Blank lethargy had still prevail'd,
If piercing not beyond the tomb
The stedfast sight of Hope had fail'd
To view Renown's pure orb irradiating the gloom.