Classic Poem

I.

As by thy paly lamp, dew-weeping Hesper,
I musing strayed with devious step and slow;
Or paused to catch thy vot'rist bird's faint vesper,
A distant strain arose, soft, wild, and low.

II.

Swelling full sweet, with every gale it blended,
And like a loud sigh breath'd o'er Eve's sad gloom,
Such strains from Arion's wave-borne lyre ascended,
Such Philomel pour'd o'er her Orpheus' tomb.

III.

And as it on the stilly air expired,
Its dying cadence woke each slumbering joy;
For ah! I ken'd that strain was then respired,
By thee, thou truant, long-lost minstrel boy.

IV.

Oh cease not then thy song of magic power,
Each vision'd form of faded bliss to raise;
And in return my Fancy's choicest flower
I'll cull, to weave amidst thy wreath of bays!