ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour’d nine,
Assist my labours, and my strains refine;
In smoothest numbers pour the notes along,
For bright Aurora now demands my song.
Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,
Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev’ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;
Harmonious lays the feather’d race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.
Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom display
To shield your poet from the burning day:
Calliope awake the sacred lyre,
While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire:
The bow’rs, the gales, the variegated skies
In all their pleasures in my bosom rise.
See in the east th’ illustrious king of day!
His rising radiance drives the shades away–
But Oh! I feel his fervid beams too strong,
And scarce begun, concludes th’ abortive song.
(Phillis Wheatley)
More Poetry from Phillis Wheatley:
Phillis Wheatley Poems based on Topics: Fire, Labor, Harmony- Niobe In Distress For Her Children Slain By Apollo, From Ovid's Metamorphose (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
- On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, 1770 (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
- A Farewell To America to Mrs. S. W. (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
- On The Death of The Rev'd Dr. Sewall (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
- To Maecenas (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
- Atheism -- (Phillis Wheatley Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Fire Poems, Labor Poems, Harmony PoemsBased on Keywords: calliope, refine, variegated, abortive, smoothest, concludes