Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 36.djvu/120

But novelties have charms for me
From laws poetic I'd be free;
Let others in their lyric lays
Say the same thing a thousand ways,
The world with ancient fables tire,
I new and striking truths admire.
Ye deities adored by swains,
Naiad and nymphs that trip the plains,
Satyrs to dancing still inclined,
Ye boys called Cupids by mankind,
Who whilst our meadows bloom in spring,
Inspire men love's soft joys to sing,
Assist a poet with your skill,
The charms 'twixt sense and rhyme to fill.
The enchanting pleasures well I know
Which from harmonious numbers flow;
The ear's a passage to the heart,
Sound can to thought new charms impart;
But geniuses I must prefer
Though even nobly wild they err,
To pedants whose exact discourse
Is void of genius as of force.
Gardens where symmetry's displayed,
Trees which in rows yield equal shade,
Who thus arranged you on the plain
May boast his art and skill in vain:
Gardens from you I must retire,
Too much of art I can't admire.
The spacious forest suits my mind,
Where nature wanders unconfined,
Its shades with awe spectators fill,
They baffle all the artist's skill.