Verses II
Thou base repiner at another’s joy,
Whose eye turns green at merit not thine own,
Oh, far away from generous Britons fly,
And find on meaner climes a fitter throne.
Away, away, it shall not be,
Thou shalt not dare defile our plains;
The truly generous heart disdains
Thy meaner, lowlier fires, while he
Joys at another’s joy, and smiles at other’s jollity.
Triumphant monster! though thy schemes succeed–
Schemes laid in Acheron, the brood of night,
Yet, but a little while, and nobly freed,
Thy happy victim will emerge to light;
When o’er his head in silence that reposes
Some kindred soul shall come to drop a tear;
Then will his last cold pillow turn to roses,
Which thou hadst planted with the thorn severe;
Then will thy baseness stand confess’d, and all
Will curse the ungenerous fate, that bade a Poet fall.
Yet, ah! thy arrows are too keen, too sure:
Couldst thou not pitch upon another prey?
Alas! in robbing him thou robb’st the poor,
Who only boast what thou wouldst take away.
See the lone Bard at midnight study sitting,
O’er his pale features streams his dying lamp;
While o’er fond Fancy’s pale perspective flitting,
Successive forms their fleet ideas stamp.
Yet say, is bliss upon his brow impress’d?
Does jocund Health in Thought’s still mansion live?
Lo, the cold dews that on his temples rest,
That short quick sigh-their sad responses give.
And canst thou rob a poet of his song;
Snatch from the bard his trivial meed of praise?
Small are his gains, nor does he hold them long;
Then leave, oh, leave him to enjoy his lays
While yet he lives-for to his merits just,
Though future ages join his fame to raise,
Will the loud trump awake his cold unheeding dust?
