Far other thoughts her heavenly mind employ,
(Hence, empty pride! and hence, delusive joy!)
To cheer with sweet repast the fainting guest;
To lull the weary on the couch of rest;
To warm the traveller numb'd with winter's cold;
The young to cherish, to support the old;
The sad to comfort, and the weak protect;
The poor to shelter, and the lost direct:--
These are her cares, and this her glorious task;
Can heaven a nobler give, or mortals aşk ?
Come to these groves, and these life-breathing glades,
Ye friendless orphans, and ye dowerless maids!
With eager haste your mournful mansions leave,
Ye weak, that tremble; and, ye sick, that grieve;
Here shall soft tents, o'er flowery lawns display'd,
At night defend you, and at noon o'ershade;
Here rosy
health the sweets of life will shower,
And new delights beguile each varied hour.
Mourns there a widow, bath'd in streaming tears?
Stoops there a sire beneath the weight of years?
Weeps there a maid, in pining sadness left,
Of tender parents, and of hope, bereft ?
To Solima their sorrows they bewail;
To Solima they pour their plaintive tale.
She hears; and, radiant as the star of day,
Through the thick forest gains her easy way :
She asks what cares the joyless train oppress,
What sickness wastes them, or what wants distress;
And, as they mourn, she steals a tender sigh,
Whilst all her soul sits melting in her eye:
Then with a smile the healing balm bestows,
And sheds a tear of pity o'er their woes,
Which, as it drops, some soft-eyed angel bears
Transform'd to pearl, and in his bosom wears.
When, chill'd with fear, the trembling pilgrim roves Through pathless deserts, and through tangled groves, Where mantling darkness spreads her dragon wing, And birds of death their fatal dirges sing, While vapours pale a dreadful glimmering cast, And thrilling horror howls in every blast; She cheers his gloom with streams of bursting light, By day a sun, a beaming moon by night; Darts through the quivering shades her heavenly ray, And spreads with rising flowers his solitary way.
Ye heavens, for this in showers of sweetness shed Your mildest influence o'er her favour'd head! Long may her name, which distant climes shall praise' Live in our notes, and blossom in our lays!
And, like an odorous plant, whose blushing flow'r
Paints every dale, and sweetens every bow'r,
Borne to the skies in clouds of soft perfume
For ever flourish, and for ever bloom!
These grateful songs, ye maids and youths, renew,
While fresh-blown violets drink the pearly dew;
O'er Azib's banks while love-lorn damsels rove,
And gales of fragrance breathe from Hagar's grove.
So sung the youth, whose sweetly-warbled strains Fair Mena heard, and Saba's spicy plains. Sooth'd with his lay, the ravish'd air was calm, The winds scarce whisper'd o'er the waving palm; The camels bounded o'er the flowery lawn, Like the swift ostrich, or the sportful fawn; Their silken bands the listening rose-buds rent, And twin'd their blossoms round his vocal tent: He sung, till on the bank the moonlight slept, And closing flowers beneath the night-dew wept; Then ceas'd, and slumber'd in the lap of rest Till the shrill lark had left his low-built nest. Now hastes the swain to tune his rapturous tales In other meadows, and in other vales:
MILD was the vernal gale, and calm the day,
When Maia near a crystal fountain lay:
Young Maia, fairest of the blue-eyed maids,
That rov'd at noon in Tibet's musky shades ;
But, haply, wandering through the fields of air,
Some fiend had whisper'd-Maia, thou art fair!
Hence swelling pride had fill'd her simple breast,
And rising passions rob'd her mind of rest;
In courts and glittering towers she wish'd to dwell,
And scorn'd her labouring parents lowly cell.
And now, as gazing o'er the glassy stream,
She saw her blooming cheek's reflected beam,
Her tresses brighter than the morning sky,
And the mild radiance of her. sparkling eye,
Low sighs and trickling tears by turns she stole,
And thus discharg'd the anguish of her soul:
Why glow those cheeks, if unadmir'd they głow?
Why flow those tresses, if unprais'd they flow?
Why dart those eyes their liquid ray serene,
Unfelt their influence, and their light unseen?
Ye heav'ns! was that love-breathing bosom made
warm dull groves, and cheer the lonely glade ? Ah, no: those blushes, that enchanting face,
Some tap'stried hall, or gilded bower, might grace; Might deck the scenes, where love and pleasure reign, And fire with amorous flames the youthful train.'
While thus she spoke, a sudden blaze of light
Shot through the clouds, and struck her dazzled sight.
She rais'd her head, astonish'd, to the skies,
And veil'd with trembling hands her aching eyes;
When through the yielding air she saw from far
A goddess gliding in a golden car,
That soon descended on the flowery lawn,
By two fair yokes of starry peacocks drawn :
A thousand nymphs with many a sprightly glance
Form'd round the radiant wheels an airy dance,
Celestial shapes! in fluid light array'd;
Like twinkling stars their beamy sandals play'd,
Their lucid mantles glitter'd in the sun,
(Webs half so bright the silk-worm never spun)
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