Classic Poem

CHARACTER III.

GENTLENESS .

MIRANDA.

Student of Nature! if at early prime,
When on th' awaken'd earth Leucothia throws,
From her grey robe, the trembling pearls of dew
For Phœbus to illumine, haply then
Thou rov'st through Flora's variegated tribes,
Whether on mead, or copse, or heath-crown'd hill,
Careless, uncultur'd, redolent, they spread;
Or those by taste selected to adorn
The proud parterre, or through the shrubb'ry's maze
Dispos'd in artless order. To the sun
They give their hues; their fragrance to the breeze.
 Hast thou beheld the lilly, spotless queen
Of summer's painted offspring? Hast thou mark'd
Her snowy flowers, smooth as the shining down
On the sledg'd cygnet's glossy chest? Its sweets,
When heighten'd by the balm of evening showers,
Thou could'st not pass regardless. 'Tis with these
Hygeia shades the wreath, she annual twines,
To crown the brows of Pæon. Beauteous flower!
Fragile and transient. Transient too wast thou,
Belov'd Miranda. Oh! too early lost
For thy fond friends, too early call'd to bear
The golden palm of immortality,
The glorious meed of excellence like thine.
 Retentive Friendship, (as her languid arm
Clasps to her breast thy urn, and pleas'd enjoys
The silent luxury of patient woe)
Bids thy lov'd image rise! Thy beauteous form,
Fair as the lilly, as the lilly pure;
Thy unoffending life—mild candid life.
No whim of wayward spleen, no stormy burst
Of haughty rage, no supercillious shew
Of talents, falsely brilliant. 'Twas thy aim
To tread the path of goodness; to delight
With easy mirth, and social converse all
Within thy sphere of action; to relieve
Those whom discerning Charity led forth
To drink of bounty's full, yet sober cup;
To give the infant mind that happy bend,
Whose spring elastic lifts the soul to heav'n;
To heal those wounds the cauterising world
Prints on ingenuous minds, which but the balm
Of sympathy can medicine. Happy soul!
Ev'n in this sublunary planet bless'd,
Thy life the peace of virtue well display'd,
Thy death her sortitude—as infants sink
On the fond mother's breast in slumbers calm,
So unappall'd in the chill tyrant's grasp,
I saw thee droop beneath his ebon wand,
Dreadful to others, but despis'd by thee.
 Oh! spirit soon beatified; oh! friend;
Oh! gentle monitress; companion sweet——
Forgive the tear which rebel Nature sheds;
The tear by Faith forbidden. Fond regret,
As on thy tomb she lays the votive wreath
Nor venal, nor by adulation wove,
Ev'n on the core of her impassion'd heart
She graves the virtues in thy life disclos'd.
Oh! may she imitate that blameless life,
Whose end was peace, whose issue is in heav'n.