Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO LYSANDER (TO HER HUSBAND ON FIRST BIRTHDAY OF THEIR SON), by JUDITH (COWPER) MADAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO LYSANDER (TO HER HUSBAND ON FIRST BIRTHDAY OF THEIR SON), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lyre neglected, and the tuneful lay
Last Line: And faithful nature paint lysander there.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


THE lyre neglected, and the tuneful lay,
Whole summer suns have rolled unsung away:
Thy eyes alone can raise the stifled fire --
What cannot eyes so bright as thine inspire?
Warmed by their beams, again my voice I raise;
Love shall assist, while you command my lays.
What theme so fit to crown this fond essay
As our first hope, in thy resemblance gay?
So, to new light and grace successive born,
The rosy east precedes the breaking morn;
So sprightly dawns the gentle opening day,
While every meaner lustre fades away.
Thee, lovely boy, with tender joy I view,
Less soft the genuine plum's unsullied blue;
Less sweet the violet hung with pearly rain,
When vernal showers refresh the fragrant plain.
Thy looks serene in native beauty shine,
And peace and dovelike innocence are thine.
Nature's soft pride! whose artless smiles dispense
The sparks of reason kindling into sense;
Whose lip, smooth rival of the vermeiled rose,
Rich in Lysander's bright resemblance glows.
Such was the infant promise of his charms,
So turned his graceful neck and waxen arms.
Through thy whole frame the kindred likeness speaks,
And from thine eyes in untaught language breaks.
Ye circling hours with kindest influence roll,
And to the body fit the forming soul:
Let every grace attend the lovely care,
And faithful Nature paint Lysander there.





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