thy vast
effulgence
pour?
Byron
1744.
)
Moore took down "these rhymes" from the lips of Byron's nurse, May Gray,
who regarded them as a first essay in the direction of poetry. He
questioned their originality.
EPITAPH ON JOHN ADAMS, OF SOUTHWELL,
A CARRIER, WHO DIED OF DRUNKENNESS.
JOHN ADAMS lies here, of the parish of Southwell,
A _Carrier_ who _carried_ his can to his mouth well;
He carried so much and he carried so fast,
He could carry no more--so was carried at last;
For the liquor he drank being too much for one,
He could not _carry_ off;--so he's now _carri-on_.
_September_, 1807.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 106. ]
[Illustration: MRS. BIRDMERE'S HOUSE, SOUTHWELL. ]
A VERSION OF OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.
FROM THE POEM "CARTHON. "
O THOU! who rollest in yon azure field,
Round as the orb of my forefather's shield,
Whence are thy beams? From what eternal store
Dost thou, O Sun!
thy vast effulgence pour?
In awful grandeur, when thou movest on high,
The stars start back and hide them in the sky;
The pale Moon sickens in thy brightening blaze,
And in the western wave avoids thy gaze.
Alone thou shinest forth--for who can rise
Companion of thy splendour in the skies!
The mountain oaks are seen to fall away--
Mountains themselves by length of years decay--
With ebbs and flows is the rough Ocean tost;
In heaven the Moon is for a season lost,
But thou, amidst the fullness of thy joy,
The same art ever, blazing in the sky!
When tempests wrap the world from pole to pole,
When vivid lightnings flash and thunders roll,
Thou far above their utmost fury borne,
Look'st forth in beauty, laughing them to scorn.
But vainly now on me thy beauties blaze--
Ossian no longer can enraptured gaze!
Whether at morn, in lucid lustre gay,
On eastern clouds thy yellow tresses play,
Or else at eve, in radiant glory drest,
Thou tremblest at the portals of the west,
I see no more! But thou mayest fail at length,
Like Ossian lose thy beauty and thy strength,
Like him--but for a season--in thy sphere
To shine with splendour, then to disappear!
Thy years shall have an end, and thou no more
Bright through the world enlivening radiance pour,
But sleep within thy clouds, and fail to rise,
Heedless when Morning calls thee to the skies!
Then now exult, O Sun! and gaily shine,
While Youth and Strength and Beauty all are thine.
For Age is dark, unlovely, as the light
Shed by the Moon when clouds deform the night,
Glimmering uncertain as they hurry past.
Loud o'er the plain is heard the northern blast,
Mists shroud the hills, and 'neath the growing gloom,
The weary traveller shrinks and sighs for home.
1806.
[First published, _Atlantic Monthly_, December, 1898. ][2]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] [I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr.
Moore took down "these rhymes" from the lips of Byron's nurse, May Gray,
who regarded them as a first essay in the direction of poetry. He
questioned their originality.
EPITAPH ON JOHN ADAMS, OF SOUTHWELL,
A CARRIER, WHO DIED OF DRUNKENNESS.
JOHN ADAMS lies here, of the parish of Southwell,
A _Carrier_ who _carried_ his can to his mouth well;
He carried so much and he carried so fast,
He could carry no more--so was carried at last;
For the liquor he drank being too much for one,
He could not _carry_ off;--so he's now _carri-on_.
_September_, 1807.
[First published, _Letters and Journals_, 1830, i. 106. ]
[Illustration: MRS. BIRDMERE'S HOUSE, SOUTHWELL. ]
A VERSION OF OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.
FROM THE POEM "CARTHON. "
O THOU! who rollest in yon azure field,
Round as the orb of my forefather's shield,
Whence are thy beams? From what eternal store
Dost thou, O Sun!
thy vast effulgence pour?
In awful grandeur, when thou movest on high,
The stars start back and hide them in the sky;
The pale Moon sickens in thy brightening blaze,
And in the western wave avoids thy gaze.
Alone thou shinest forth--for who can rise
Companion of thy splendour in the skies!
The mountain oaks are seen to fall away--
Mountains themselves by length of years decay--
With ebbs and flows is the rough Ocean tost;
In heaven the Moon is for a season lost,
But thou, amidst the fullness of thy joy,
The same art ever, blazing in the sky!
When tempests wrap the world from pole to pole,
When vivid lightnings flash and thunders roll,
Thou far above their utmost fury borne,
Look'st forth in beauty, laughing them to scorn.
But vainly now on me thy beauties blaze--
Ossian no longer can enraptured gaze!
Whether at morn, in lucid lustre gay,
On eastern clouds thy yellow tresses play,
Or else at eve, in radiant glory drest,
Thou tremblest at the portals of the west,
I see no more! But thou mayest fail at length,
Like Ossian lose thy beauty and thy strength,
Like him--but for a season--in thy sphere
To shine with splendour, then to disappear!
Thy years shall have an end, and thou no more
Bright through the world enlivening radiance pour,
But sleep within thy clouds, and fail to rise,
Heedless when Morning calls thee to the skies!
Then now exult, O Sun! and gaily shine,
While Youth and Strength and Beauty all are thine.
For Age is dark, unlovely, as the light
Shed by the Moon when clouds deform the night,
Glimmering uncertain as they hurry past.
Loud o'er the plain is heard the northern blast,
Mists shroud the hills, and 'neath the growing gloom,
The weary traveller shrinks and sighs for home.
1806.
[First published, _Atlantic Monthly_, December, 1898. ][2]
FOOTNOTES:
[2] [I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr.
