Classic Poem

To a FRIEND in IRELAND.

The new blown Roses to their friend,
Long absent, a petition send.
Now when thy groves redundant wear
The vernal garland of the year,
'Mongst whom the insect tribes of spring
Incessant ply the busy wing:
Oh! say; what charm, what magic power,
Keeps thee from thy Arcrasian bower.
Long since you pass'd, with eager haste,
Rude Cambria's mountain-piled waste,
Which, like the hills in Classic ground,
Were wont with choral harps to sound.
The theme, the deeds of chieftains bold,
Those hills now dreary, mute, and cold,
You left and launch'd upon the tide,
Whose waves the sister isles divide.
Fearless you brav'd the wintry blast,
Which howling shook the rocking mast,
Luxurious, uncontroll'd, and gay,
You saw Ierne meet the day,
And, like a lover, strive to keep
His chariot from the Atlantic steep.
O'er many a marsh and barren moor,
In legend fam'd, you pass'd secure
To where, through Munster's lakes and bowers,
His world of waters Shannon pours.
Hither with patient zeal you sped,
But not by roving humour led:
You went to ease the anxious cares,
Which press'd a matron's silver hairs.
You went, to her endear'd caress
To give the happy son you bless,
By filial piety to prove
At once your merit and your love.
You fought, tho' with mistaken aim;
To cherish Nature's languid flame.
You knew not, rapture's high-wrought strife
Breaks the fine filaments of life.
Yet seek no more, by fond complaint,
To stay the venerable faint.
Short gleams of bliss on earth is giv'n;
'Tis only permament in heav'n.
Her virtue, by long conflicts prov'd,
Fits her to meet the God she lov'd.
The sacred relicts of the just
Giv'n to the grave in holy trust,
And every pious right fulfill'd,
That faith enjoin'd, or love impell'd;
Oh! come and taste, with mind serene,
The beauties of the rural scene,
The fearless crocus, Flora's king.
Led forth the army of the spring.
Then, bold with wintry winds to fight,
The snowdrop spread her banners white.
The hyacinth, of tender form,
To soothe the anger of the storm;
Expos'd her beauty fair and frail,
And died before the ruthless gale.
The coward shrubs, at distance far,
Beheld, nor durst provoke the war,
Till May, attir'd in robes of green,
Demanded homage as their queen.
Then first the lilack gave to view
Her mantle of imperial blue.
Then the laburnum, tribute paid,
In vegetable gold array'd.
Syringa, like the lilly pale,
Diffus'd her fragrance to the gale.
The woodbine hung her vines above
To listen to the linnets love.
Unprais'd, unnotic'd, by thy eye,
These early blossoms fade and die,
True to their 'custom'd season, see
The Roses load the bending tree.
Shall we too seek our annual tomb,
Nor in thy moss-deck'd basket bloom?
Nor thron'd upon thy bosom shew
Our richly variegated glow?
Thy taste is wanting to dispose
The foliage, that redundant grows.
Ah! do not thy return delay,
'Till winter whitens every spray,
'Till none of all our hoarded sweets
Thy morning walk with incense greets:
And Flora must thy garland chuse
From aconite and solemn yews.
Oh! haste, while summer's fleecy clouds
Float gently o'er the swelling shrouds.
Let not thy vent'rous bark again
Encounter the autumnal main.
Death, when the stormy Centaur raves,
Prepares his numerous wat'ry graves,
And leads his cypress-crowned host
Triumphant round Ierne's coast.
Oh! haste, thy anxious friends rejoin,
(For many an anxious friend is thine)
The terrors of the stormy sea
And craggy rocks they dread for thee.
Thy smile is wanting to endear
The full luxuriance of the year;
What time the dancing lunar beam
Sheds o'er the grove a silver gleam;
When Nature takes a softer hue,
Her flowing vest impearl'd with dew,
While list'ning to the night-bird's song,
They lack the music of thy tongue;
If thy lov'd flowers unheard complain,
Yet Friendship shall not ask in vain.
Thy groves in welcome shall renew
The early summer's softest hue.
Come then, return, with rapture taste
The pleasures in retirement plac'd.
Again thy tranquil hours shall glide
Calm, as the riv'let by thy fide.
Virtue alone these joys shall claim,
And thou and virtue art the same.