Ode To Music

O MUSIC! soul-enchanting nymph, advance,
Thro' magic maze to guide the measur'd dance,
Or aid the tremulous voice,
When fired with Nature's charms Creation's sons rejoice.
O! let thy own melodious lays,
That still revibrate on my raptur'd ear,
With notes majestic, soft, and clear,
Awake my lyre to sound thy praise.
Let Nature's offspring, gracefully array'd,
Without fantastic Folly's aid,
Simplicity, whose spotless hand
Leads true Sublimity of attic mien,
Firm, bold, expressive, ardent, yet serene;
And Poesy, thy sister ever dear,
(Ye twin descendants of the ethereal sphere,
With innate charms combin'd,
Ah! never, never be your notes disjoin'd!)
In solemn dignity beside thee stand;
Hark! as each artless finger strikes the strings,
Her sweetest strains responsive Echo sings.
When decent Mirth, by guilt unstain'd,
Th' unbending mind employs,
'Tis thine to heights sublime to waft her joys;
Nor be thy graver song disdain'd;
But when contending passions' lawless strife,
And all the deepfelt woes of life,
Conspire the grief-tormenting breast to wound,
Then let thy pleasing, pensive strain,
Sooth the dejected soul with sympathetic sound,
And sheathe the shaft of pain.
At dewy dawn or tepid eve,
The thoughts from Care's dull thraldom to relieve,
Ah! how sweet uncheck'd to rove,
To hear thy votaries of th' umbrageous grove;
Hark! the softly-warbled song,
Pours from each mellifluent tongue,
O'er mountains, rallies, streams, and grots around,
Each melting accent flies,
From rocks, and caves, and ambient skies,
The thrilling lays resound.
Rapturing source of purest pleasures,
When themes divine employ thy varied measures;
'Twas thine, as hallow'd writers sing,
E'en from the breast of Israel's King,
(Th' entrancing harp in pious David's hand)
To chace the fell demoniac band.
Ever sacred be thy strain,
Nor more may thoughts or words profane,
Pollute the heav'n-taught lyre;
May the celestial mind her vast ideas raise,
And glowing with her Maker's boundless praise,
Bid e'en an earthly shell pour forth seraphic fire.