OCEAN. ΑΝ O D E. Let the sea make a noise, let the floods clap their hands. SWEET rural scene! At careless ease my limbs are spread; But yonder rill; And list'ning pines nod o'er my head: II. In prospect wide, The boundless tide! Waves cease to foam, and winds to roar; The curling seas Dance on, in measure to the shore. III. Who sings the source Vast field of commerce, and big war, Where wonders dwell! Where terrors swell! And Neptune thunders from his car? IV. Where? Where are they, Has touch'd, and bid divinely rave ?— I snatch the lyre, And plunge into the foaming wave. V. The wave resounds! The rock rebounds! The Nereids to my song reply! And they conspire, With voice and shell, to lift it high. VI. They spread in air Their bosoms fair, Their verdant tresses pour behind: With nimble feet, The main the main ! Is Britain's reign; Her strength, her glory, is her fleet: The main the main ! As Tritons strong, as Syrens sweet. IX. Thro' nature wide Is nought descry'd So rich in pleasure or surprise; How sweet the scene! How dreadful, when the billows rise; X. And storms deface In which ere-while Britannia fair Adjusting her majestic air! XI. When tempests cease, The flatten'd surges smoothly spread, Deep silence keep, And seem to sleep Recumbent on their oozy bed; XII. With what a trance, Unbroken, shoots along the seas! Which tempt from shore And every canvas courts the breeze! VOL. I. 17 XIII. When rushes forth On black'ning billows, with what dread And hears their roarings o'er my head! XIV. With terror, mark Now centre-deep descend the brave; It takes the sky, A feather on the tow'ring wave! XV. Now spins around In whirls profound: Now whelm'd; now pendant near the clouds ; Midst thunders peals: And now fierce lightning fires the shrouds. XVI. All Ether burns! Chaos returns! And blends, once more, the seas and skies: No space between Thy bosom green, O deep and the blue concave, lies. XVII. The northern blast, |