| Lonely shades, and murm'ring founts; |
| Limpid steams, and azure mounts; |
| Rocks and caverns, ocean's roar; |
| Waves, whose surges lash the shore; |
| 5 Moons, that silver radiance shed, |
| When the vulgar are "a-bed;" |
| Stars and planets shining high, |
| Make one feel 'twere bliss to die; |
| Twilight's soft mysterious light; |
| 10 Suns whose rays are "all" too bright; |
| Wither'd hopes, and faded flowers, |
| Beauties pining in their bowers; |
| Broken harps, and untuned lyres; |
| Lutes neglected, unquench'd fires; |
| 15 Vultures pecking at the heart, |
| Leaving owners scarce a part; |
| Doves that, frighted from the breast, |
| Seek in vain some sweeter rest; |
| Feather'd songsters of the grove, |
| 20 Warbling notes of joy and love; |
| Hearts a prey to dark despair, |
| Why, or how, we hardly care; |
| Pale disease feeds on the cheek, |
| Health how feeble -- head how weak -- |
| 25 Bursting tear and endless sigh -- |
|
Query, can she tell us why? |
| Pallid nymphs with fronts of snow, |
| Ebon locks with graceful flow; |
| Lips of rose leaves' tender dyes, |
| 30 Eyes that mock cerulean skies; |
| And a foot too which may pass |
| Over, yet not bend, the grass. -- |
| Next, a hero, with an air -- |
| Half a brigand -- half corsair; |
| 35 Dark, myserious in his life, |
| Dreadful in the battle's strife; |
| Vice and virtue in his breast, |
| War for empire -- banish rest -- |
| Raving still of glory -- fame -- |
| 40 While dishonour marks his name; |
| Loving one, and only one -- |
| Though he has that one undone; |
| A Macedoine of good and evil, |
| One part hero -- three parts devil: |
| 45 Quite an Admirable Crichton |
| Is the hero all now write on. -- |
| This is now the stock in trade, |
| With which a modern poem's made. |
