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4
MONODY ON THE
Sublime of thought, and confident of fame,
From vales where Avon winds the Minstrel[1] came.
Light-hearted youth! aye, as he hastes along,
He meditates the future song,
How dauntless Ælla fray'd the Dacyan foes;
And, as floating high in air
Glitter the sunny visions fair,
His eyes dance rapture, and his bosom glows!
Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health,
With generous joy he views th' ideal wealth;
He hears the widow's heaven-breath'd prayer of praise
He marks the shelter'd orphan's tearful gaze;
Or, where the sorrow-shrivell'd captive lay,
Pours the bright blaze of Freedom's noon-tide ray:
And now, indignant, "grasps the patriot steel,"
And her own iron rod he makes Oppression feel.
- ↑ Avon, a river near Bristol; the birth place of Chatterton.
