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Realm Of Fancy, TheRealm Of Fancy, The
Realm Of Fancy, The
Ever let the Fancy roam!
Pleasure never is at home:
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;
Then let winged Fancy wander
Through the thought still spread beyond her:
Open wide the mind`s cage - door,
She`ll dart forth, and cloudward soar.
O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer`s joys are spoilt by use,
And the enjoying of the Spring
Fades as does its blossoming:
Autumn`s red - lipp`d fruitage too,
Blushing through the mist and dew,
Cloys with tasting: What do then?
Sit thee by the ingle, when
The sear faggot blazes bright,
Spirit of a winter`s night;
When the soundless earth is muffled,
And the caked snow is shuffled
From the ploughboy`s heavy shoon;
When the Night doth meet the Noon
In a dark conspiracy
To banish Even from her sky.
- Sit thee there, and send abroad,
With a mind self - overaw`d
Fancy, high - commission`d: - send her!
She has vassals to attend her;
She will bring, in spite of frost,
Beauties that the earth hath lost;
She will bring thee, all together,
All delights of summer weather;
All the buds and bells of May
From dewy sward or thorny spray;
All the heaped Autumn`s wealth,
With a still, mysterious stealth:
She will mix these pleasures up
Like three fit wines in a cup,
And thou shalt quaff it: - thou shalt hear
Distant harvest - carols clear;
Rustle of the reaped corn;
Sweet birds antheming the morn:
And, in the same moment - hark!
`Tis the early April lark,
Or the rooks, with busy caw,
Foraging for sticks and straw.
Thou shalt, at one glance, behold
The daisy and the marigold;
White - plumed lilies, and the first
Hedge - grown primrose that hath burst;
Shaded hyacinth, alway
Sapphire queen of the mid - May;
And every leaf, and every flower
Pearled with the self - same shower.
Thou shalt see the field - mouse peep
Meagre from its celled sleep;
And the snake all winter - thin
Cast on sunny bank its skin;
Freckled nest - eggs thou shalt see
Hatching in the hawthorn - tree,
When the hen - bird`s wing doth rest
Quiet on her mossy nest;
Then the hurry and alarm
When the bee - hive casts its swarm;
Acorns ripe down - pattering,
While the autumn breezes sing.
Oh, sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Everything is spoilt by use:
Where`s the cheek that doth not fade,
Too much gazed at? Where`s the maid
Whose lip mature is ever new?
Where`s the eye, however blue,
Doth not weary? Where`s the face
One would meet in every place?
Where`s the voice, however, soft,
One would hear so very oft?
At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth.
Let then winged Fancy find
Thee a mistress to thy mind:
Dulcet - eyed as Ceres` daughter,
Ere the God of Torment taught her
How to frown and how to chide;
With a waist and with a side
White as Hebe`s, when her zone
Slipt its golden clasp, and down
Fell her kirtle to her feet,
While she held the goblet sweet,
And Jove grew languid. - Break the mesh
Of the Fancy`s silken leash;
Quickly break her prison - string,
And such joys as these she`ll bring:
- Let the winged Fancy roam!
Pleasure never is at home.
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