AH! SHELBURNE, blest with all that's good or great, T' adorn a rich, or save a sinking state, If public Ills engross not all thy care, Let private Woe assail a patriot's ear, Pity confined, but not less warm, impart, And unresisted win thy noble heart: Nor deem I rob thy soul of Britain's share, Because I hope to have some interest there; Still wilt thou shine on all a fostering sun, Though with more fav'ring beams enlight'ning one, -- As Heaven will oft make some more amply blest, Yet still in general bounty feeds the rest. Oh hear the Virtue thou reverest plead; She'll swell thy breast, and there applaud the deed. She bids thy thoughts one hour from greatness stray, And leads thee on to fame a shorter way; Where, if no withering laurel's thy reward, There's shouting Conscience, and a grateful Bard; A bard untrained in all but misery's school, Who never bribed a knave or praised a fool; -- 'Tis Glory prompts, and as thou read'st attend, She dictates pity, and becomes my friend; She bids each cold and dull reflection flee, And yields her Shelburne to distress and me! -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DEPARTURE OF THE GOOD DAEMON by ROBERT HERRICK MONT BLANC; LINES WRITTEN IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE COW by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE CAUTIOUS HOUSEHOLDER by ANAXILAS HOME'S A NEST by WILLIAM BARNES TO HIS LATE MAJESTY, CONCERNING..TRUE FORM OF ENGLISH POETRY by JOHN BEAUMONT RETURN by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |