Classic Poem

ODE XXXIII.

TO DR. SAMUEL PARR, OF HADDON NEAR WARWICK

I.

Parr , men like you, of noble mind,
A feeble foe may well defy;
Firm as he hears the passing wind,
Or distant views a lowering sky.

II.

What tho' the lily's slender head
May droop beneath the drenching showers?
Tho' bends the rose on lowly bed,
The queen, th' unrivalled queen of flowers?

III.

Yet spreads the oak its giant arms;
Yet smiles the cedar's reverend form;
The tempest wakes no wild alarms;
Secure they stand, and brave the storm.

IV.

And, mark where foaming torrents roar
Down the steep rock's unalter'd side;
The pearly snows are seen no more,
But perish in the boist'rous tide.

V.

But, shall the hoary mountain dread
Or beating rain, or thunder nigh?
Still, as in scorn it rears its head,
Still looks in triumph to the sky.

VI.

For me; — tho' I may still revere
Stern Wisdom in her hermit cell,
Yet to my heart is far more dear,
The breast where gentlest virtues dwell.

VII.

'Tis thus I love some Alpine height,
And bless each tree that clothes the side;
Yet humbler vallies more delight,
Than all the mountain's varied pride.

VIII.

There breathe the garden's richer sweets;
There livelier songsters carol gay;
There breathe, amid the blest retreats,
The shepherd's pipe, the lover's lay.

IX.

Thus have I fang'd the breezy shore,
And, rapt in thought poetic, stood,
To hear the ocean's solemn roar,
Or gaze on Severn's stately flood.

X.

But Avon, softly flowing, pours
A stream less stately, yet more bright,
And fresh with dews, the genial flowers
Smile on the bank, and charm the sight.

XI.

Here Shakespeare, Nature's fondest child,
First rov'd, a little thoughtless swain;
Here breath'd his native wood-notes wild ,
And tried the soft impassion'd strain.

XII.

Here too, collecting sweets, I stray'd,
From flowers, with mildest tints that glow'd,
And blest thy Hatton's humble shade,
For it was Mercy's meek abode.