Classic Poem

T AGUS , afloat between whose noble shores
Swim the proud barks for Indian seas designed,
Moving with motion of the gentle wind,
Or showering crystal drops from cleaving oars;
Say, is there one among the band deplores
The glorious peril Destiny assigned
To plough the lonely azure unconfined,
Parting the bitter flood that ocean pours?
I, too, whom links of bondage here constrain,
In like resolvèd mood would wend with thee,
Bound for Love's deep so sunny and so drear:
But, since the body cannot now be free,
Abandon it, bright River, to its chain,
And speed the soul, incarnate in my tear.