Poems (Temple)/To the Genius of Romance
To the GENIUS of ROMANCE.
Oh thou! whose bland intoxicating smile,Darts o'er the gloomy barrenness of LifeIts lustrous day, making the desart bloom,E'en as the sun o'er brow of dusky cliffResplendent shines, cheering the vale beneath,And pouring thro' its wild and curtain'd shade,His gay exulting eye. Thee will I court,Thee shall my Muse invoke to bless her song,Her artless song—whose rude unmeasur'd trill,Has oft-times cheated Sorrow's dreary hour Of all its wrath, and bade my musing-heart,Turn from reality to count the charmsOf Fancy's boundless world, has bade it gaze,In mute delight, on gay ideal realmsWarm'd by th' effusive beams of joy and love.And thou wast there! Lo! on the sunny shore,The woodland-swell, the bold and Alpine heightThy form appear'd! I saw thy bounding stepDance o'er the fairy plain, and mark'd thine eyeKindle new beauties in the dreamy scene.Now—on the breezy mountain's utmost vergeTow'ring sublime—I view'd thy beauteous form,With locks loose-streaming to the frolic gale,And drapr'y floating wild—Entranc'd I've dweltOn all thy rich variety of grace,And cunning witcheries of voice and mien. How promptly has my wond'ring heart obey'dThy beck'ning hand that call'd it to surveyThe wavy features of thy gay domain.And oh! when waking from the thick-wove tranceOf Fancy's day-dreams, when the present hour,Return'd again in all its barrenness,How hast thou whisper'd to my palsied soul,That 'midst the weeds, the rank and vulgar weedsThat crouded up my path, some straggling flow'rWould brightly rise to gem my rugged fate,And pout its nectar on my thirsty heart.Yes sweet Romance! my love thou long hast been,Long hast thou sooth'd my pleas'd and list'ning ear,With charming lies, and bade my cheated sightDrink the un-real tints, the shad'wy charmsThe slanting sun-blaze, and the wand'ring gale Of Hope's gay land: nor would my heart foregoThy tempting feast, or lose thy golden smile,Thy swimming glance, for all the awful charmsThat Reason boasts; for 'tis most sweet to thinkThat Joy's fair star shall ever brightly hang,Its lustre-beaming lamp, whose lucid lightThese eyes have vainly sought among the starsOf real life! its dull and darkling skySeldom emits one lively ray, or yieldsOne bloomy tint;—'tis murky sadness all,And threat'ning gloom. Or if a transient gleam,Bursts th' impris'ning veil of low-born cares,And wintry-mists, and for one winged hourLends its half-hidden light, how soon the train,The billowy train of Disappointment's cloudsComes rolling on, to quench its timid beam, And spread again the universal Night,Arise, fond Memory, and o'er my versePour thy effulgence! Oh relate the spellThat busy Fancy wove, and sweet RomanceTwin'd round my glowing heart, making each pulseTo riot wild, and spreading all around,E'en thro' its quivering, its inly core,The rich voluptuous tide of mad'ning Hope.How I have sprung to meet the fancied dawnOf Love's soft Orb! how hail'd its seeming rise,And proud Meridian! Oh my musing soul!Dwell on the thrilling dreams, the wild conceits,The wishes warm, that o'er my wilder'd brainHave danc'd in gay confusion, scatt'ring wideTh' amusive flame, when I have seem'd to meetThe glance, and hang upon the melting smile Of fond affection.—Come then, dear Romance,Steal o'er my soul, and still shall it surveyThe bright enchantments of thy dreamy world.