IN these degenerate times the Muses blend
For thee a wreath, their guardian and their friend;
Thee, lib’ral MOIRA , in whose glowing mind
Exulting Nature ev’ry grace combin’d !
Honour’s nice sense, by judgment wisely taught;
And hardy Valour, with soft Pity fraught;
TRUTH without ostentation ; and a soul,
Thro’ which the purest tides of Feeling roll;
And inborn Dignity, which springs elate
Above the tinsel of mere lofty state !
Blest is the isle where Virtue such as thine
Waves its broad standard o’er the MUSE’S shrine
Blest is the hour when manly feelings own
A PATRIOT’S laurels twining round a THRONE !
With honest zeal when proud affections blend;
And courtly splendors dignify the Friend ,–
The gen’rous friend, whom int’rest cannot bind,
But whose strong ruler is HIS GOD-LIKE MIND !
Where’er I trace thee, through Life’s varying day,
I mark attending Virtues lead thy way:
I mark the mild Affections following near;
Now deck’d in smiles, now bath’d in pity’s tear.
Beside thee VALOR moves with giant crest,
While Mercy’s ensign hides his iron breast;
And TIME , with glowing pen, on Nature’s page,
Transcribes thy deeds, to charm a future age !
MOIRA ! accept the Muse’s grateful songs;
For all THE MUSE can give to THEE belongs !
The flow’rs of Fancy at thy bidding rise,
And their wild fragrance blend, with purest dyes.
No flatt’rer’s voice the labour’d cadence flings;
No Syren mischief witches while she sings;
No hireling slave contaminates the tide
Where bright PIERIAN fountains proudly glide;–
The Wreath that suits with thee may Virtue claim,
‘Tis BRITAIN’S offering,–’tis the WREATH OF FAME .
Take from A STRANGER Muse the song sincere;
The wild note greets time with a mingling tear:
Take from her trembling hand a thornless flow’r,
And wear it on thy breast through Life’s dull hour:
Haply, when Contemplation sighs to scan
The weedy pathway mark’d for wretched man,
This humble Flow’r may fragrance still impart;
If not to charm, to harmonize thy heart;
To prove that, e’en where darkest ills are found,
Where weedy mischiefs poison while they wound,
The sweetest emblem which the mind can know
Is the pure bud which Kindness taught to blow;
The bud which in thy wreath its leaves shall rear,
Bath’d in the lustre of a grateful tear.
(Mary Elizabeth Robinson)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, Nature Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Friendship Poems, Smiling Poems, Truth Poems, Age Poems, Fame Poems, Future PoemsBased on Keywords: dignify, ostentation, moira, offering-, transcribes, contaminates