104
POEMS.
Prayers of a People, Voice of bright Renown,
Fair eyes and honied lips, ye vainly plead;
Doomed to support that glittering curse, a Crown,
Alike the Hero and the Beauty bleed!
Fair eyes and honied lips, ye vainly plead;
Doomed to support that glittering curse, a Crown,
Alike the Hero and the Beauty bleed!
—"Yet mark these martial bands around me placed;
"Observe my palace strictly watched and barred!"—
Vain Man! in Friendship's garb, with favour graced,
Fate lurks within, and mocks thy doubled guard!
"Observe my palace strictly watched and barred!"—
Vain Man! in Friendship's garb, with favour graced,
Fate lurks within, and mocks thy doubled guard!
Thy trusted Servant, midst thy Foes enrolled,
To drug thy bowl employs his baleful art;
Thy favourite Mistress, bribed with foreign gold,
Waits but thy sleep to pierce thy doating heart:
To drug thy bowl employs his baleful art;
Thy favourite Mistress, bribed with foreign gold,
Waits but thy sleep to pierce thy doating heart:
And Lo! thy darling Son [most false of Friends!]
By dire Ambition steeled against remorse,
Tears from thy brow the crown, thy throne ascends,
Nor doubts to mount by trampling on thy corse.
By dire Ambition steeled against remorse,
Tears from thy brow the crown, thy throne ascends,
Nor doubts to mount by trampling on thy corse.
