ODE. 641 While all around the fragrant wild-flowers blow, And sweet birds sing her requiem to the wa THE dreamy rhymer's measured snore WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. ODE. BARDS of Passion and of Mirth, Thus ye live on high, and then On the earth ye live again; And the souls ye left behind you Teach us, here, the way to find you, Where your other souls are joying, Never slumbered, never cloying. Here your earth-born souls still speak To mortals, of their little week; Of their sorrows and delights; Of their passions and their spites; Of their glory and their shame; What doth strengthen and what maim. Thus ye teach us, every day, Wisdom, though fled far away. Bards of Passion and of Mirth, Ye have left your souls on earth! Ye have souls in heaven too, Double-lived in regions new! JOHN KEATS. THE MINSTREL. SONNET. "WHAT Voice, what harp, are those we hear WHо best can paint th' enamelled robe of Beyond the gate in chorus? Go, page!—the lay delights our ear; "Bring in the hoary minstrel!" "Hail, princes mine! Hail, noble knights! All hail, enchanting dames! What starry heaven! What blinding lights! Whose tongue may tell their names? In this bright hall, amid this blaze, The minnesinger closed his eyes; He struck his mighty lyre: Then beauteous bosoms heaved with sighs, The king, enraptured by the strain, Be given the bard in guerdon. "Not so! Reserve thy chain, thy gold, For those brave knights whose glances, Fierce flashing through the battle bold, Might shiver sharpest lances! Bestow it on thy treasurer thereThe golden burden let him bear With other glittering burdens. "I sing as in the greenwood bush The cageless wild-bird carols- Themselves are gold and laurels ! They set it down; he quaffs it all "O! draught of richest flavor! O thrice divinely happy hall Where that is scarce a favor! If Heaven shall bless ye, think on me; JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (German). Translation of JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN. Spring, |