Ii

But Truth inspired the Bards of old When of an iron age they told, Which to unequal laws gave birth, And drove Astræa from the earth.[IF] --A gentle Boy (perchance with blood As noble as the best endued, But seemingly a Thing despised; Even by the sun and air unprized; For not a tinge or flowery streak Appeared upon his tender cheek) Heart-deaf to those rebounding notes, Apart, beside his silent goats, Sate watching in a forest shed, Pale, ragged, with bare feet and head; Mute as the snow upon the hill, And, as the saint he prays to, still. Ah, what avails heroic deed? What liberty? if no defence Be won for feeble Innocence. Father of all! though wilful Manhood read His punishment in soul-distress, Grant to the morn of life its natural blessedness![IG]

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