ODE,
On
the death of JAMES BEATTIE, L.L.D. Author of the
Minstrel, Etc. Etc. Etc.——Written
in imitation of and chiefly collected from
that Poem.
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HIGH on a rock that frown’d o’er Eden’s
wave,
A youthful Minstrel stood in wild despair;
Loose flow’d his vest, and carelefs sorrow
gave,
His auburn ringlets to th’ unconscious air!
Rude were his features and his bosom bare;
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Tears
quench’d his eyes that glisten’d erst
with fire;
And as he tun’d the echoing notes of care,
Grief seem’d herself to animate his lyre,
To rouse the feeling strain, and ev’ry verse
inspire!
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2.
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| “Mourn,
Edwin, mourn thy rev’rend guardian dead, |
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“He
who thy breast from false desires redeem’d;
“Cold is the hand which then thy footsteps
led,
“Clos’d are those eyes whence heavenly
pity beam’d,
“Silent the heart which in his features gleam’d!
“And mute, for ever mute his genial tongue
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“That
tongue which inspiration’s image seem’d;
“Whilst on his lips celestial doctrines hung.
“*And Revelation
will’d the music that he sung! [Page
23]
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3.
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“The
warbling groves—the garniture of fields
“The solemn night—the blaze of perfect
day;
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“All
that the healthful dew of morning yields,
“And all that echoes to the evening lay;
“No more their Beattie’s rural charms
display;—
“For me, whose wand’ring heart
his maxims drew,
“From Fancy’s paths to reason’s
purer way,
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“Here
on his recent tomb I fix my view,
“And pour my endless tears—and weep
my soul’s adieu!
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4.
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“Yet
no!—hark! ’tis his voice!—“let
those their doom
“Deplore, whose hope is still this dark sojourn;
“But lofty souls who look beyond the tomb,
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“Can
smile at Fate—and wonder how they mourn;
“Shall endless darkness shroud the strangers
bourne?
“Shall man be born to vegetate in vain?
“No! Heaven’s immortal spring shall
yet return,
“And man’s majestic beauty bloom again,
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“Bright
thro’ the eternal years of Love’s triumphant
reign!”
[Page 24] |
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*
See his evidences of Christianity, 2 Vol. duodecimo
[back] |
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