Fragment of a Projected Ode

Inspired by thee, the Grecian swain, On some green cape’s delicious brow, (Watching the vast and glorious main That spread its purple robe below,) With eyes half-closed in reverie Has seen the ocean’s King afar, And the young Sisters of the sea Floating around his pearly car:— He sees their locks, that fringe the while With braided green the deep they lave, And that superb, immortal smile, Which, where it lingers, lights the wave— He knows the sound, that swoons along His golden East’s voluptuous tide, To be the Nereids’ distant song Around their Monarch’s path of pride! And there, as slumber heavier falls, Fond Fancy still his eye beguiles; With Nymphs, he treads the blue deep’s halls, Or, with the Just, their shining isles.6J.