An equal skill, or chant an equal strain?
High on the mount our Scriba stands alone,
And blends a former aera with our own.
Scriba, for thee I wish a future bright
With every known, and yet unknown delight;
May the fond Fates that bless'd thy days of yore,
On riper years repeated favours pour;
May Phoebus smile on thine increasing skill,
And Aesculapius shield thy form from ill;
May Nymphs and Dryads of the founts and woods
Preserve thy joy in sylvan solitudes;
May Jocus guide thy never-failing wit,
And sprightly Comus at thy banquets sit;
And best of all, mayst thou for ever live
Midst bliss as keen as that thy verses give!
H. P. Lovecraft.
High on the mount our Scriba stands alone,
And blends a former aera with our own.
Scriba, for thee I wish a future bright
With every known, and yet unknown delight;
May the fond Fates that bless'd thy days of yore,
On riper years repeated favours pour;
May Phoebus smile on thine increasing skill,
And Aesculapius shield thy form from ill;
May Nymphs and Dryads of the founts and woods
Preserve thy joy in sylvan solitudes;
May Jocus guide thy never-failing wit,
And sprightly Comus at thy banquets sit;
And best of all, mayst thou for ever live
Midst bliss as keen as that thy verses give!
H. P. Lovecraft.
Ad Scribam
To Jonathan Hoag, Esq., Aetat LXXXIX.
February 10, 1920
A health to thee, upon whose silver'd head
The mingled glow of Time and Art is shed;
Whose growing years, now full four score and nine,
In one vast beam of waxing glory shine.
Blessed is he, whose ev'ry hour can show
Some virtuous effort or aeonian glow.
To such each added day fresh fame imparts,
Whilst mounting age endears him to our hearts:
Scriba, for thee a life of deeds well done
A lasting coronet of love hath won!
But tho' in gratitude we pause to scan
The welcome favour of thy lengthen'd span,
Counting alone reveals Time's number'd truth,
Since all thy works proclaim eternal youth!
In thy warm heart, with kindly genius sweet,
Life's golden morn and ripen'd evening meet;
No cynic hardness here hath found a place,
Where bloom perennial ardor, hope and grace.
In thee the fragrance of forgotten Mays
Revives to bless our colder, drearier days;
Thy busy quill a story'd past recalls,
And with rare magic teaches and enthralls;
Legend and tale of regions far and near
On thy bright page in pleasing pomp appear,
While Nature, by thy hand sublimely drawn,
Yields copious lore of ages here and gone.
Happy the man who thus forever dwells
Close to the secrets that the brooklet tells;
Whose eager ear culls learning from the rose,
And gleans the truth Dionondawa knows;
Hears ev'ry message that the mountain breeze
Brings the high crags or whispers to the trees;
And through whose art, supreme and unimpair'd,
The mingled glow of Time and Art is shed;
Whose growing years, now full four score and nine,
In one vast beam of waxing glory shine.
Blessed is he, whose ev'ry hour can show
Some virtuous effort or aeonian glow.
To such each added day fresh fame imparts,
Whilst mounting age endears him to our hearts:
Scriba, for thee a life of deeds well done
A lasting coronet of love hath won!
But tho' in gratitude we pause to scan
The welcome favour of thy lengthen'd span,
Counting alone reveals Time's number'd truth,
Since all thy works proclaim eternal youth!
In thy warm heart, with kindly genius sweet,
Life's golden morn and ripen'd evening meet;
No cynic hardness here hath found a place,
Where bloom perennial ardor, hope and grace.
In thee the fragrance of forgotten Mays
Revives to bless our colder, drearier days;
Thy busy quill a story'd past recalls,
And with rare magic teaches and enthralls;
Legend and tale of regions far and near
On thy bright page in pleasing pomp appear,
While Nature, by thy hand sublimely drawn,
Yields copious lore of ages here and gone.
Happy the man who thus forever dwells
Close to the secrets that the brooklet tells;
Whose eager ear culls learning from the rose,
And gleans the truth Dionondawa knows;
Hears ev'ry message that the mountain breeze
Brings the high crags or whispers to the trees;
And through whose art, supreme and unimpair'd,
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