Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820/Source of the Danube
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SONNET.
THE SOURCE OF THE DANUBE.4
Not (like his great compeers) indignantly
Doth Danube spring to life! The wandering stream
(Who loves the Cross, yet to the Crescent's gleam
Unfolds a willing breast) with infant glee
Slips from his prison walls: and Fancy, free
To follow in his track of silver light,
Reaches, with one brief moment's rapid flight,
The vast Encincture of that gloomy sea
Whose rough winds Orpheus soothed; whose waves did greet
So skilfully that they forgot their jars—
To waft the heroic progeny of Greece,
When the first Ship sailed for the golden Fleece;
Argo exalted by that daring feat
To a conspicuous height among the stars!
Doth Danube spring to life! The wandering stream
(Who loves the Cross, yet to the Crescent's gleam
Unfolds a willing breast) with infant glee
Slips from his prison walls: and Fancy, free
To follow in his track of silver light,
Reaches, with one brief moment's rapid flight,
The vast Encincture of that gloomy sea
Whose rough winds Orpheus soothed; whose waves did greet
So skilfully that they forgot their jars—
To waft the heroic progeny of Greece,
When the first Ship sailed for the golden Fleece;
Argo exalted by that daring feat
To a conspicuous height among the stars!