But when the melancholy fit shall fall Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud; Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, Or on the wealth of globed peonies; Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows, Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.
She dwells with Beauty Beauty that must die; And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh, Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips: Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine, ``
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine ; His soul shall taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
EVER let the Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home:
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth, Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;
Then let winged Fancy wander
Through the thought still spread beyond her:
Open wide the mind's cage-door,
She 'll dart forth, and cloudward soar.
O sweet Fancy! let her loose; Summer's joys are spoilt by use, And the enjoying of the Spring Fades as does its blossoming; Autumn's red-lipp'd fruitage too, Blushing through the mist and dew, Cloys with tasting: What do then? Sit thee by the ingle, when The sear faggot blazes bright, Spirit of a winter's night;
When the soundless earth is muffled, And the caked snow is shuffled From the ploughboy's heavy shoon; When the Night doth meet the Noon In a dark conspiracy
To banish Even from her sky.
Sit thee there, and send abroad, With a mind self-overaw'd,
Fancy, high-commission'd:
She has vassals to attend her : She will bring, in spite of frost, Beauties that the earth hath lost; She will bring thee, all together, All delights of summer weather; All the buds and bells of May, From dewy sward or thorny spray; All the heaped Autumn's wealth, With a still, mysterious stealth: She will mix these pleasures up Like three fit wines in a cup,
Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst; Shaded hyacinth, alway
Acorns ripe down-pattering, While the autumn breezes sing.
Oh, sweet Fancy! let her loose; Every thing is spoilt by use:
Where's the cheek that doth not fade, Too much gaz'd at? Where's the maid Whose lip mature is ever new?
Where's the eye, however blue,
Where's the face
One would meet in every place? Where's the voice, however soft, One would hear so very oft?
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth Like to bubbles when rain pelteth. Let, then, winged Fancy find Thee a mistress to thy mind: Dulcet-eyed as Ceres' daughter, Ere the God of Torment taught her How to frown and how to chide; With a waist and with a side White as Hebe's, when her zone Slipt its golden clasp, and down Fell her kirtle to her feet, While she held the goblet sweet,
And Jove grew languid.
BARDS of Passion and of Mirth, Ye have left your souls on earth! Have ye souls in heaven too, Double-lived in regions new? Yes, and those of heaven commune With the spheres of sun and moon; With the noise of fountains wond'rous, And the parle of voices thund'rous;
With the whisper of heaven's trees And one another, in soft ease Seated on Elysian lawns
Brows'd by none but Dian's fawns; Underneath large bluebells tented, Where the daisies are rose-scented, And the rose herself has got Perfume which on earth is not; Where the nightingale doth sing Not a senseless, tranced thing, But divine melodious truth; Philosophic numbers smooth; Tales and golden histories Of heaven and its mysteries.
Thus ye live on high, and then On the earth ye live again; And the souls ye left behind you
Teach us, here, the way to find you,
Where your other souls are joying,
Never slumber'd, never cloying.
Here, your earth-born souls still speak
To mortals, of their little week;
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