Classic Poem

ODE XIII.

TO THE RIVER CAM.

I.

While you skylark warbles high,
While yon rustic whistles gay,
On thy banks, oh! C AM , I lie;
Museful pour the pensive lay.
Willowy Cam, thy lingering stream
Suits too well the thoughtful breast;
Languor here might love to dream,
Sorrow here might sigh to rest.

II.

Near you steeple's tapering height,
Beauteous J ULIA , thou art laid;
I could linger thro' the night,
Still to mourn thee, lovely maid:
In yon garden Fancy reads,
" S OPHRON strays no longer here:
Then again my bosom bleeds;
Then I drop the silent tear.

III.

Hoary Cam, steal slow along
Near yon desolated grove:
Sleep the partners of my song;
There with them I wont to rove.
He, the youth of fairest fame,
Hasten'd to an early tomb;
Friendship shall record his name;
Pity mourn'd his hapless doom.

IV.

Hark! I hear the deathbell sound!
There another spirit fled!
Still mine ears the tidings wound;
P HILO slumbers with the dead.
Well he knew the critic's part;
S HAKSPEARE'S name to him was dear:
Kind and gentle was his heart:
— Now again I drop the tear.

V.

Bending sad beside thy stream,
While I heave the frequent sigh,
Do thy rippling waters gleam,
Sympathetic murmuring by?
Then, oh! Cam, will I return,
Hail thy soothing stream again,
And, as viewing Julia's urn,
Grateful bless thee in my strain.

VI.

Still there are, who raptured view
Scenes which youthful hopes endear,
Where they science learn'd to woo;
Still they love to wander here.
Peace they, meet in every grove;
Lives again the rapturous song;
Sweetly sportive still they rove,
Cam, thy sedgy banks along.

VII.

Stately streams, and glens, and lakes,
They can leave to S COTIA'S plains;
Mountains hoar, and vaies, and brakes,
They resign to C AMBRIAN swains.
But these placid scenes full well
Suit the quiet-musing breast:
Here if Fancy may not dwell,
Science shall delight to rest.