The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/To Mr. Hoag, on His Ninetieth Birthday

by H. P. Lovecraft

To Mr. Hoag

On His Ninetieth Birthday, February 10, 1921

 

As on the flow'ry Latmian crest
  Endymion ever young reposes,
With crystal dreams by Phoebe bless'd,
  And wreath'd in never-dying roses;
So, Scriba, thou, whose poet-eyes
  Have dwelt aloft in raptures rarest,
And won like favours from the skies,
  At ninety still youth's garland wearest!

Methinks I see thee where the moon
  On faery slopes sends down her splendour;
That realm of sempiternal June,
  Peopled by fauns and oreads tender,
Which sleeps unalter'd and unvex'd,
  Tho' with vast ills and changes direst
The world of waking be perplexed—
  That fancy-heaven of the lyrist!

In such an aether dost thou dream
  Irradiate traceries to hear hither,
Rewarded by the boon supreme—
  A spirit that may never wither;
The years float by caressingly,
  Bestowing gifts but never robbing;
And now the ninetieth leaves thee free,
  Thy heart with youthful ardor throbbing.

Thus will it be in future time,
  Thy presence ever luminous beaming,
The while thou tell'st in beryl rhyme
  The winsome wonders of thy dreaming;
The queen of night thy path will strew
  With blossoms from the bow'rs Elysian,
And thou wilt sing amidst the dew,
  Rose-crowned and young, a fadeless vision!
H. P. Lovecraft.