Ode to Memory

Mother of Wisdom! thou, whose sway The throng'd ideal hosts obey; Who bidst their ranks, now vanish, now appear, Flame in the van, or darken in the rear: 2Accept this votive verse. Thy reign 2Nor place can fix, nor power restrain: All all is thine. For thee the car, and eye Rove thro' the realms of Grace, and Harmony: 2The Senses thee spontaneous serve, 2That wake, and thrill thro' every nerve. Else vainly soft, lov'd Philomel! would flow The soothing sadness of thy warbled woe: 2Else vainly sweet yon woodbine shade 2With clouds of fragrance fill the glade; Vainly, the cygnet spread her downy plume, The vine gush nectar, and the virgin bloom. 2But swift to thee, alive, and warm, 2Devolves each tributary charm: See modest Nature bring her simple stores, Luxuriant Art exhaust her plastic powers; 2While every flower in Fancy's clime, 2Each gem of old heroic Time, Cull'd by the hand of the industrious Muse, Around thy shrine their blended beams diffuse.

2Hail, mem'ry! hail. Behold I lead 2To that high shrine the sacred Maid; Thy daughter she, the Empress of the lyre, The first, the fairest, of Aonia's quire. 2She comes, and lo, thy realms expand! 2She takes her delegated stand Full in the midst, and o'er thy num'rous train Displays the awful wonders of her reign. 2There thron'd supreme in native state, 2If Sirius flame with fainting heat, She calls; ideal groves their shade extend, The cool gale breaths, the silent show'rs descend: 2Or, if bleak Winter, frowning round, 2Disrobe the trees, and chill the ground, She, mild Magician, waves her potent wand; And ready summers meet her wing'd command. 2See, visionary Suns arise, 2Mid silver clouds, and azure skies; See, Sportive Zephyrs curl the crisped streams; Thro' shadowy brakes light glance the sparkling beams: 2While, near the secret moss-grown cave, 2That stands beside the crystal wave, Sweet Eccho, rising from her rocky bed, Mimics the feather'd Chorus o'er her head.

2Rise, hallow'd Milton! rise, and say, 2How, at thy gloomy close of Day; How, when "deprest by Age, beset with wrongs; When "fall'n on evil days and evil tongues; 2When Darkness, brooding on thy sight, 2Exil'd the sov'raign lamp of light: Say, what could then one chearing hope diffuse? What friends were thine, save Mem'ry and the Muse? 2Hence the rich spoils, thy studious youth 2Caught from the stores of antient Truth: Hence all thy busy eye cou'd pleas'd explore, When Rapture led thee to the Latian shore; 2Each scene, that Tiber's bank supply'd; 2Each grace, that play'd on Arno's side; The tepid gales, thro' Tuscan glades that fly; The blue Serene, that spreads Hesperia's sky; 2Were still thine own: thy ample mind 2Each charm receiv'd, retain'd, combin'd. And thence "the nightly Visitant", that came To touch thy bosom with her sacred flame, 2Recall'd the long-lost beams of grace; 2That whilom shot from Nature's face, When God, in Eden, o'er her youthful breast Spread with his own right hand Perfection's gorgeous Vest.