Classic Poem

AFTER MANY YEARS ABSENCE .

T AX'D with neglect, in me no common crime,
I raise to Justice the indignant rhyme,
And while, thro' Absence' self thine eyes effuse
Their wonted sweetness, court no fabled Muse;
That sympathetic influence can beguile
The dreary interval of many a mile,
Gleam thro' the tempest, cross the dangerous main,
And smooth its liquid mountains to a plain.
The genial gale, that wakes the infant Spring,
Such transport throws not from it's purple wing:
Studded with stars, the blue expanse of Night,
Beams not a softer, a screner light;
Than feels my heart, when every fibre glows
With the fond eulogy thy lyre bestows!
When first, too weak to grasp the laurel-bough,
I wove a rosy chaplet for thy brow,
And, in its various hues, would, idly, trace
Some flowery semblance of thy charming face,
Oft would the sweet seduction of thy smile,
Attune my numbers, and enrich my style;
Whate'er of fair, or perfect, I design'd,
Was, merely, copied from thy form, or mind,
Nor, fondly, could the subject fail to warm,
All softness was thy mind, all symmetry thy form!
How oft have I beheld, in rapt'rous trance,
Thy graceful steps adorn the sprightly dance;
Or, fancy-fix'd th' angelic quire among,
Caught the mellifluous magic of thy song;
But transient these, to the exalted pow'r
Of serious converse o'er the social hour,
Ambrosial words, from ruby lips that flow'd,
Bashfully wise, a banquet for a God!
Come then, bewitching as thou art, illume
My glowing numbers with immortal bloom;
Nor, only, on my glowing numbers shine,
Let my bold spirit brighten with the line;
Hoarded, with pious care, within my breast,
Oh! ever let thy dear Idea rest,
There fix'd, the silent, secret object be,
Of my poetical Idolatry!
So, shall each verse be exquisitely fraught
With more luxurious tenderness of thought;
So, weaning for awhile from heav'n his ear,
And sedulous such rival-theme to hear,
Waller , once more, may see his S YDNEY 's name,
Reviv'd in song, superior, and the same;
The same in beauty, that thy least pretence,
In feeling, far superior, and in sense.
Oh! that, as once, to S URRY 's anxious sight,
The magic Mirror's dim, fallacious light,
Gave the fair face of lovesick G ERALDINE ,
So, might I for a moment dwell on thine,
That shadowey spell each vanish'd bliss would raise,
And all my grief he lost in one voluptuous gaze.
Cruel! with cold Indifference, to defame
That bosom-shrine, where Friendship's holy flame
Burns, like the vestal-lamp, with lasting fire,
Still fed by Hope, and ever-young Desire,
Such saintly fire, perchance, as Seraphs feel,
Who round th' Eternal throne their radiant Cohorts wheel;
Or, martyr'd Souls, ascending from the blaze,
In murmurs of unutterable praise;
Or, such as light the P HOENIX ' fun'ral nest,
With fragrant fume, in A RABY the blest.
Sole angel of that Orb! could'st thou profane
So pure an altar, with so deep a stain,
Fair Truth, for grim Ingratitude, remove,
And lift that Daemon on the wreck of Love?
The vow is vain: — for who, indeed, would fly
To gloomy dungeons, from the golden sky?
Who H EBE'S nectar'd bowl would, madly, slight
For venom'd draughts, all satiate of delight? —
But when those exquisite illusions fade,
Ah! once in richest pageanty array'd,
Which stream'd o'er Youth's gay dawn their orient dies,
Now doom'd, in vision only, to arise;
When, like the transient I RIS ' humid ray,
Dissolv'd, those fascinating forms decay,
Celestial forms! so delicately faint,
Which Rapture's fairy pencil loves to paint;
May Memory from my vacant brain depart;
Lost be my fancy, lost my tuneful art,
And that no gleam may cheer the lonely waste,
Last be thy Image utterly effac'd.