William Collins

IAs once, if not with light regard
I read aright that gifted bard
(Him whose school above the rest
His loveliest Elfin Queen has blest),…

In the downhill of life, when I find I'm declining,
May my lot no less fortunate be
Than a snug elbow-chair can afford for reclining,
And a cot that o'erlooks the wide sea;…

An Ode for MusicPerformed at Oxford, with Hayes's music,
in 1750.When Music, heav'nly maid, was young,
While yet in early Greece she sung,
The Passions oft, to hear her shell,…

Written in May, 1745.While, lost to all his former mirth,
Britannia's genius bends to earth,
And mourns the fatal day:
While stain'd with blood he strives to tear…

Когда пастушья дудочка замрёт,
Пускай надежда твой ласкает слух,
Как ручьи его ласкают
И слабеющие ветры.Взгляни, спокойный Вечер, вот зашло…

SIR,
A patriot's hand protects a poet's lays,
While nursed by you she sees her myrtles bloom,
Green and unwither'd o'er his honour'd tomb;…

SCENE, A mountain in Circassia.
TIME, Midnight.In fair Circassia, where, to love inclined,
Each swain was blest, for every maid was kind;
At that still hour, when awful midnight reigns,…

O thou, who bad'st thy turtles bear
Swift from his grasp thy golden hair,
And sought'st thy native skies;
When War, by vultures drawn from far,…

HOW sleep the brave, who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd mould,…

O thou, by Nature taught
To breathe her genuine thought,
In numbers warmly pure, and sweetly strong;
Who first, on mountains wild,…

If aught of oaten stop, or pastoral song,
May hope, chaste Eve, to soothe thy modest ear,
Like thy own solemn springs,
Thy springs and dying gales,O nymph reserv'd, while now the bright-hair'd sun…

AN ODE.Farewell, for clearer ken design'd,
The dim-discover'd tracts of mind;
Truths which, from action's paths retired,
My silent search in vain required!…

ORIENTAL ECLOGUESCENE, A valley near Bagdat.
TIME, The morning.'Ye Persian maids, attend your poet's lays,
And hear how shepherds pass their golden days.
Not all are blest, whom fortune's hand sustains…

THE SCENE IS SUPPOSED TO LIE
ON THE THAMES NEAR RICHMOND.IN yonder grave a Druid lies,
Where slowly winds the stealing wave;
The year’s best sweets shall duteous rise…

CONSIDERED AS THE SUBJECT OF POETRY;
INSCRIBED TO MR. JOHN HOME.HOME, thou return’st from Thames, whose Naiads long
Have seen thee lingering with a fond delay,
’Mid those soft friends, whose hearts, some future day,…

ORIENTAL ECLOGUESCENE, A forest.
TIME, The evening.In Georgia's land, where Tefflis' towers are seen,
In distant view, along the level green,
While evening dews enrich the glittering glade,…

S T R O P H E.O THOU, who sit'st a smiling Bride
By Valour's arm'd and awful Side,
Gentlest of Sky-born Forms, and best ador'd:
Who oft with Songs, divine to hear,…

ORIENTAL ECLOGUESCENE, The desert.
TIME, Midday.In silent horror o'er the boundless waste
The driver Hassan with his camels past:
One cruise of water on his back he bore,…

Thou who such weary Length hast past,
Where wilt thou rest, mad Nymph, at last?
Say, wilt thou shroud in haunted Cell,
Where gloomy Rape and Murder dwell?…