Thou magic lyre, whose fascinating sound <br />Seduced the savage monsters from their cave, <br />Drew rocks and trees, and forms uncouth around, <br />And bade wild Hebrus hush his listening wave; <br />No more thy undulating warblings flow <br />O'er Thracian wilds of everlasting snow! <br /> <br />Awake to sweeter sounds, thou magic lyre, <br />And paint a lover's bliss -- a lover's pain! <br />Far nobler triumphs now thy notes inspire, <br />For see, Eurydice attends thy strain; <br />Her smile, a prize beyond the conjuror's aim, <br />Superior to the cancelled breath of fame. <br /> <br />From her sweet brow to chase the gloom of care, <br />To check the tear that dims the beaming eye, <br />To bid her heart the rising sigh forbear, <br />And flush her orient cheek with brighter joy, <br />In that dear breast soft sympathy to move, <br />And touch the springs of rapture and of love. <br /> <br />Ah me! how long bewildered and astray, <br />Lost and benighted, did my footsteps rove, <br />Till sent by heaven to cheer my pathless ray, <br />A star arose -- the radiant star of love. <br />The God propitious joined our willing hands, <br />And Hymen wreathed us in his rosy bands. <br /> <br />Yet not the beaming eye, or placid brow, <br />Or golden tresses, hid the subtle dart; <br />To charms superior far than those I bow, <br />And nobler worth enslaves my vanquished heart; <br />The beauty, elegance, and grace combined, <br />Which beam transcendent from that angel mind. <br /> <br />While vulgar passions, meteors of a day, <br />Expire before the chilling blasts of age, <br />Our holy flame with pure and steady ray, <br />Its glooms shall brighten, and its pangs assuage; <br />By virtue (sacred vestal) fed, shall shine, <br />And warm our fainting souls with energy divine.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ode-supposed-to-be-written-on-the-marriage-of-a-friend/
