day, I sung, my voice the woods returning; But lang ere night the spear was flown That slew my love, and left me mourning. "What can my barbarous, barbarous father do, But with his cruel rage pursue me? "My happy sisters may be, may be proud; With cruel and ungentle scoffing, "My brother Douglas may upbraid, me; My lover's blood is on thy spear, How canst thou ever bid me love thee? "Yes, yes, prepare the bed, the bed of love, With bridal sheets my body cover; "But who the expected husband, husband is? His hands, methinks, are bath'd in slaughter. Ah me! what ghastly spectre's yon, Comes, in his pale shroud, bleeding, after! "Pale as he is, here lay him, lay him down, Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow! Take aff, take aff these bridal weeds, And crown my careful head with yellow. "Pale tho' thou art, yet best, yet best belov'd, Oh, could my warmth to life restore thee, "Pale, indeed, oh, lovely, lovely youth! Return, return, oh, mournful, mournful bride! Return and dry thy useless sorrow: [ANONYMOUS. 1726.] WHY, LOVELY CHARMER. The Hive WHY, lovely charmer, tell me why, In vain you strive, with all your art, And bid new music charm the unfolding | To leafless shrubs the flowering palms ear : The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe. No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, From every face he wipes off every tear. In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, And Hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound. As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, By day o'ersees them, and by night protects, The tender lambs he raises in his arms, Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom But useless lances into scythes shall bend, And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun ; Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, And the same hand that sow'd, shall reap the field. The swain, in barren deserts with surprise See lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; And start, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear New falls of water murmuring in his ear. On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods. Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, The spiry fir and shapely box adorn; succeed, And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed. The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead; The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet. The smiling infant in his hand shall take The crested basilisk and speckled snake, Pleased the green lustre of the scales survey, And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise! Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! See, a long race thy spacious courts adorn; See future sons, and daughters yet unborn, In crowding ranks on every side arise, Demanding life, impatient for the skies! See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend; See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings, And heap'd with products of Sabean springs, For thee Idume's spicy forests blow, And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow. See heaven its sparkling portals wide display, And break upon thee in a flood of day. No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn; But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze O'erflow thy courts; the Light himself shall shine Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine! The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt |