Seward, I hail thy soft melodious lays, That sooth and elevate the kindling mind; In Fancy's orient hues they bloom, With diction, splendent from poetic rays, Whose chaste and lucid elegance displays The penetrating power of taste refin'd, To Genius sacred; for which Fame shall bind Around thy brow th' unfading wreath of praise: Their meed, who glow with that etherial fire Potent to make the breast in transport beat, And thro' life's current pour ecstatic heat. O! do not ceae to wake the sonnet-lyre, But bend again at Inspiration's shrine, Again to melt the soul in harmony divine. Harbury, May 31, 1799.
