| |
| TO show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent, | |
| And thought in living characters to paint, | |
| When first thy pencil did those beauties give, | |
| And breathing figures learnt from thee to live, | |
| How did those prospects give my soul delight, | 5 |
| A new creation rushing on my sight? | |
| Still, wond’rous youth! each noble path pursue, | |
| On deathless glories fix thine ardent view: | |
| Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire | |
| To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire! | 10 |
| And may the charms of each seraphic theme | |
| Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame! | |
| High to the blissful wonders of the skies | |
| Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes. | |
| Thrice happy, when exalted to survey | 15 |
| That splendid city, crown’d with endless day, | |
| Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring: | |
| Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring. | |
| |
| Calm and serene thy moments glide along, | |
| And may the muse inspire each future song! | 20 |
| Still, with the sweets of contemplation bless’d, | |
| May peace with balmy wings your soul invest! | |
| But when these shades of time are chas’d away, | |
| And darkness ends in everlasting day, | |
| On what seraphic pinions shall we move, | 25 |
| And view the landscapes in the realms above? | |
| There shall thy tongue in heav’nly murmurs flow, | |
| And there my muse with heav’nly transport glow: | |
| No more to tell of Damon’s tender sighs, | |
| Or rising radiance of Aurora’s eyes, | 30 |
| For nobler themes demand a nobler strain, | |
| And purer language on th’ ethereal plain. | |
| Cease, gentle muse! the solemn gloom of night | |
| Now seals the fair creation from my sight. | |
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