I have no charm to renovate the youth Of old authentic dictates of the heart,— Divinest Poesy!-'tis thine to make Age young-youth old-to baffle tyrant Time, From antique strains the hoary dust to shake, And with familiar grace to crown new rhyme. Long have I loved thee-long have loved in vain, The lovely images of earth and sky From thee I learn'd within my soul to treasure; And the strong magic of thy minstrelsy Charms the world's tempest to a sweet, sad measure. Nor Fortune's spite-nor hopes that once have been- Of pregnant ills-and penitential harms That dog the rear of youth unwisely wasted, R FROM PETRARCH. Se lamentar augelli, o verdi fronde. THE birds piped mournfully; the dark green leaves Warbled along its old monotonies : Such blended sounds my reckless ear received, A mournful strain I conn'd-when she for whom Shone forth on high, to wondering sense reveal'd: 66 Why ever thus," said she, "thy days consume? Dying, I live,—and when I closed my eyes They open'd to the light of Paradise." REGENERATION. I NEED a cleansing change within- Ah! why did fabling Poets tell Whence brutish spirits, in contagious shoals, Ah, no! but Lethe flows aloft For him that was despised of men. It is the only fount of bliss In all the human wilderness- O Fons Blandusią, splendidior vitro, BLANDUSIAN Spring, more gaily bright, That, fetter'd long in darksome earth, Leaps forth to greet a kindred rayThou art worth a Poet's lay. Flowers-them we will not give,— Little lambkins ;-let them live, Thou wert loath to hear them moan: Let them frisk upon thy bourn, And in thee view the budding horn. Well I know, an ancient Poet Promised thee a kid to-morrow- |