WHILE every muse impatient waits
To meet the hero on the strand,
And welcome Collingwood’s return,
Triumphant! to his native land,
Will he forgive a Thulian maid
Her rude attempt, untaught to sing,
Who never trod Aonian mount,
Nor ever sipp’d Pierian spring.
Stern Neptune, give thy sea-nymphs charge
The stormy billows close to keep;
And guide thy gallant, favour’d son,
In safety o’er the dangerous deep.
Ye gentle gales, auspicious blow,
And waft the hero o’er the sea;
And, lo! he comes in happy time
To join our British Jubilee.
On Trafalgar’s victorious day,
When warring navies shook the sea;
Humanely brave, thy valour shone,
Th’ eventful hour devolv’d on thee.
Great Nelson’s shade, yet lingering near,
Delay’d his bliss; well pleas’d to see
Thy gallant arm assume the charge,
And Britain’s hope revive in thee.
Nor only in the dreadful scene
Of war’s fell thunder, dost thou shine;
The gentler feelings of the heart,
The social virtues too are thine.
‘Tis thine to trace the claim of worth,
Thine modest merit to descry;
‘Tis thine to feel for those who mourn,
And wipe the tear from sorrow’s eye.
With earnest suppliance let us bend,
Before Hygeia’s crowded shrine;
And sue, that in the hero’s wreath
Of laurel, she her rose would twine.
For, ah! long tost on foreign seas,
The glow of health begins to fade;
May native climate, scenes, and joys
Combine, its wish’d return to aid.
With throbbing heart and bounding step,
Thy gentle consort climbs the height;
Entranc’d the blissful moment flies
Which gives thy vessel to her sight.
Now Britons hasten to the shore,
With joyful shouts the hero greet;
Let martial strains salute his ear,
And lay the laurel at his feet.
(Margaret Chalmers)
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Based on Topics: War & Peace Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Happiness Poems, Sons Poems, Spring Poems, Courage Poems, Heroism Poems, Danger & Risk Poems, Health Poems, Safety PoemsBased on Keywords: entranc, sipp, hygeia, thulian, suppliance, collingwood, humanely, devolv