Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/113

This to prevent, consult your words; and know
How far their strength, extent, and nature go.
To all their charges, and their labors fit;
To all, their sev'ral provinces of wit.
Without this care, the poem will abound
With empty noise, and impotence of sound;
Unmeaning terms will crowd in ev'ry part,
Delude the ear, but never reach the heart.
Yet would I sometimes venture to disperse
Some words, whose splendor should adorn my verse;
(Words, that to wit and thought have no pretence,
And rather vehicles of sound than sense;)
Till in the gorgeous dress the lines appear,
And court with gentle harmony the ear.
Nor with too fond a care such words pursue,
They meet your sight, and rise in ev'ry view.
Oft, from its chains the shackled verse unloose,
And give it liberty to walk in prose;
Renew the poem with unweary'd pain,
Bind and cement the shatter'd parts again;
The lurking faults and errors you may see,
When the words run unmanacled and free.

Attend