ode to genius.
53
And may it be, that sounds so widely felt,
Can from the lisping tongue of childhood flow!
Oh! Genius! canst thou bid a nation melt
In anguish o'er an infant's mimic woe?
See! from his lab'ring breast the expiring pang
Heaves its quick-throb! what death-like stillness reigns,
While breathless crowds in mute amazement hang,
The freezing stream scarce moving in their veins!
And ah! he dies!—grief claims the transient pause,
Then yields a people's voice the thunder of applause!
Can from the lisping tongue of childhood flow!
Oh! Genius! canst thou bid a nation melt
In anguish o'er an infant's mimic woe?
See! from his lab'ring breast the expiring pang
Heaves its quick-throb! what death-like stillness reigns,
While breathless crowds in mute amazement hang,
The freezing stream scarce moving in their veins!
And ah! he dies!—grief claims the transient pause,
Then yields a people's voice the thunder of applause!
Children of Genius, on that lasting page
Where ne'er oblivion's chilling fingers rest,
Your names shall dwell thro' many an after age,
When long, life's scene has clos'd upon the breast!
When wealth and pow'r, of short-liv'd honours proud,
Their pageant play'd, obey the general doom,
Mix unrecorded with the mouldering crowd,
Where ne'er oblivion's chilling fingers rest,
Your names shall dwell thro' many an after age,
When long, life's scene has clos'd upon the breast!
When wealth and pow'r, of short-liv'd honours proud,
Their pageant play'd, obey the general doom,
Mix unrecorded with the mouldering crowd,
