The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1854 edition. Excerpt: ... and unresolved to go. In secret didst thou still impart Thy raptures to the pure in heart? Perhaps to many a desert shore, Thee, in his rage, the tempest bore; Thy broken murmurs swept along, Mid echoes yet untuned by song; Arrested in the realms of frost, Or in the wilds of ether lost. Far happier thou 't was thine to soar, Careering on the winged wind. Thy triumphs who shall dare explore? Suns and their systems left behind. No tract of space, no distant star, No shock of elements at war, Did thee detain. Thy wing of fire Bore thee amid the cherub-choir; And there a while to thee 't was given Once more that voice23 beloved to join, Which taught thee first a flight divine, And nursed thy infant years with many a strain from Heaven TO THE BUTTERFLY, Child of the sun pursue thy rapturous flight, Mingling with her thou lov'st in fields of light; And, where the flowers of Paradise unfold, Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold. 238 TO THE FRAGMENT OF A STATUE OF HERCULES. There shall thy wings, rich as an evening-sky, Expand and shut with silent ecstasy --Yet wert thou once a worm, a thing that crept On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb and slept. And such is man; soon from his cell of clay To burst a seraph in the blaze of day AN EPITAPH ON A ROBIN-REDBREAST.24 TitEAD lightly here, for here, 'tis said, When piping winds are hushed around, A small note wakes from underground, Where now his tiny bones are laid. No more in lone and leafless groves, With ruffled wing and faded breast, His friendless, homeless spirit roves;--Gone to the world where birds are blest Where never cat glides o'er the green, Or school-boy's giant form is seen; But Love, and Joy, and smiling Spring, Inspire their little souls to sing TO THE FRAGMENT OF A...