Here droops the Muse! while from her glowing mind,
Celestial Sympathy, with humid eye,
Bids the light sylph (capricious Fancy) fly,
Time's restless wings with transient flowers to bind!
For now, with folded arms and head inclined,
Reflection pours the deep and frequent sigh
O'er the dark scroll of human destiny,
Where gaudy buds and wounding thorns are twined.
Oh, sky-born Virtue! sacred is thy name—
And though mysterious Fate, with frown severe,
Oft decorates thy brows with wreaths of fame
Bespangled o'er with Sorrow's chilling tear,
Yet shalt thou more than mortal raptures claim,
The brightest planet of the eternal sphere!