Classic Poem

I.

Now had the beam of Titan gay
Usher'd in the blissful May ,
Scatt'ring from his pearly bed,
Fresh dew on ev'ry mountain's head ;
Nature mild and debonnair,
To thee, fair maid, yields up her care.
May , with gentle plastic hand,
Clothes in flow'ry robe the land ;
O'er the vales the cowslips spreads,
And eglantine beneath the shades ;
Violets blue befringe each fountain,
Woodbines lace each steepy mountain ;
Hyacinths their sweets diffuse,
And the rose its blush renews ;
With the rest of Flora 's train,
Decking lowly dale or plain.

II.

Thro' creation's range, sweet May!
Nature's childreNown thy sway —
Whether in the chrystal flood,
Am'rous, sport the finny brood ;
Or the feather'd tribes declare,
That they breathe thy genial air,
While they warble in each grove
Sweetest notes of artless love ;
Or their wound the beasts proclaim,
Smitten with a fiercer flame ;
Or the passion higher rise,
Sparing none beneath the skies,
But swaying soft the human mind
With feelings of extatic kind —
Thro' wide creation's range, sweet May!
All Nature's childreNown thy sway.

III.

Oft will I, (e'er Phosphor 's light
Quits the glimm'ring skirts of night)
Meet thee in the clover-field,
Where thy beauties thou shalt yield
To my fancy, quick and warm,
List'ning to the dawn's alarm,
Sounded loud by Chanticleer ,
In peals that sharply pierce the ear.
And, as Sol his flaming car
Urges up the vaulted air,
Shunning quick the scorching ray,
I will to some covert stray ;
Coolly bow'rs or latent dells,
Where light-footed silence dwells,
And whispers to my heav'n-born dream,
Fair Schuylkill by thy winding stream !
There I'll devote full many an hour,
To the still-finger'd Morphean-pow'r,
And entertain my thirsty foul
With draughts from Fancy 's fairy bowl ;
Or mount her orb of varied hue,
And scenes of heav'n and earth review.

IV.

Nor in milder Eve 's decline,
As the sun forgets to shine,
And slopping down th' aetherial plain,
Plunges in the Western main,
Will I forbear due strain to pay
To the song-inspiring May ;
But as Hesper 'gins to move
Round the radiant court of Jove,
(Leading thro' the azure sky
All the starry progeny,
Emitting prone their silver light,
To re-illume the shades of night)
Then, the dewy lawn along,
I'll carol forth my grateful song,
Viewing with transported eye
The blazing orbs that roll on high,
Beaming lustre, bright and clear,
O'er the glowing hemisphere.
Thus from the early-blushing morn,
Till the dappled eve's return,
Will I, in free unlabour'd lay,
Sweetly sing the charming May!