WHY, gentle Muse, wilt thou disdain To lend thy strains to me? Why do I supplicate in vain And bow my heart to thee? Oh! teach me how to touch the lyre, To tune the trembling chord; Teach me to fill each heart with fire, And melting strains afford. Sweep but thy hand across the string, The woodlands echo round, And mortals wond'ring, as you sing, Delighted catch each sound. Enchanted when thy voice I hear, I drop each earthly care; I feel as wafted from the world To Fancy's realms of air. Then as I wander, plaintive sing, And teach me every strain; Teach me to touch the trembling string Which now I strike in vain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BURNING OF THE TEMPLE by ISAAC ROSENBERG AT MAGNOLIA CEMETERY by HENRY TIMROD DESERT NIGHT by FRANCES DAVIS ADAMS EJACULATORY PRAYER by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS LINES WRITTEN TO A TRANSLATOR OF GREEK POETRY by MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON THERE IS NOTHING STRANGE by ARCHILOCHUS THE GOLDEN AGE by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN ON FRIENDS AND FOES by WILLIAM BLAKE THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: TARAFA by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |