Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/229

With thy celestial song. Up-led by thee
Into the Heaven-of-heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy tempering. With like safety guided down
Return me to my native element;
Lest, from this flying steed unreined—as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime—
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.—20
Half yet remains unsung, but, narrower bound,
Within the visible diurnal sphere.
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues,
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visitest my slumbers nightly, or when morn
Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,30
Urania, and fit audience find, though few;
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodopé, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamor drowned
Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
Her son. So fail not thou who thee implores;
For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.