THE HARP, AND DESPAIR, OF COWPER. William Lisle Bowles Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street... 1855 pp. 151-152.

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THE HARP , AND DESPAIR , OF COWPER . Sweet bard , whose tones great Milton might approve , And Shakspeare , from high Fancy's sphere , Turning to the sound his ear , Bend down a look of sympathy and love ; Oh , swell the lyre again , As if in full accord it poured an angel's strain ! But oh ! what means that look aghast , Ev'n whilst it seemed in holy trance , On scenes of bliss above to glance ! Was it a fiend of darkness passed ! Oh , speak — Paleness is upon his cheek — On his brow the big drops stand , To airy vacancy Points the dread silence of his eye , And the loved lyre it falls , falls from his nerveless hand ! Come , peace of mind , delightful guest ! Oh , come , and make thy downy nest Once more on his sad heart ! Meek Faith , a drop of comfort shed ; Sweet Hope , support his aged head ; And Charity , avert the burning dart ! Fruitless the prayer — the night of deeper woes Seems o'er the head even now to close ; In vain the path of purity he trod , In vain , in vain , He poured from Fancy's shell his sweetest hermit strain — He has no hope on earth : forsake him not , O God !