Ye myrtles brown with ivy2 never sere3
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude
And with forced fingers rude
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing4 year.
Bitter constraint5 and sad occasion dear
Compels me to disturb your season due：
For Lycidas is dead dead ere his prime
Young Lycidas and hath not left his peer.
Who would not sing for Lycidas？ he knew
Himself to sing and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not float upon his watery6 bier
Unwept and welter to the parching7 wind
Without the meed of some melodious8 tear.
Begin then Sisters of the sacred well
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring；
Begin and somewhat loudly sweep the string.
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse：
So may some gentle Muse9
With lucky words favour my destined10 urn11；
And as he passes turn
And bid fair peace be to my sable12 shroud13.
For we were nursed upon the selfsame hill
Fed the same flock by fountain shade and rill：
Together both ere the high lawns appear'd
Under the opening eyelids14 of the Morn
We drove afield and both together heard
What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night
Oft till the star that rose at evening bright
Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel.
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute
Temper'd to the oaten flute15
Rough Satyrs danced and Fauns with cloven heel
From the glad sound would not be absent long；
And old Damoetas loved to hear our song.
But oh the heavy change now thou art gone
Now thou art gone and never must return！
Thee Shepherd thee the woods and desert caves
With wild thyme and the gadding16 vine o'ergrown
And all their echoes mourn：
The willows17 and the hazel copses green
Shall now no more be seen
Fanning their joyous18 leaves to thy soft lays：
As killing19 as the canker to the rose
Or taint-worm to the weanling herds20 that graze
Or frost to flowers that their gay wardrobe wear
When first the #CCCCFF-thorn blows
Such Lycidas thy loss to shepherd's ear.
Where were ye Nymphs when the remorseless deep
Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas？
For neither were ye playing on the steep
Where your old bards21 the famous Druids lie
Nor on the shaggy TOP of Mona high
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream：
Ay me！ I fondly dream
Had ye been there For what could that have done？
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore
The Muse herself for her enchanting22 son
Whom universal nature did lament23
When by the rout24 that made the hideous25 roar
His gory26 visage down the stream was sent
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore？
Alas28！ what boots it with uncessant care
To tend the homely29 slighted shepherd's trade
And strictly30 meditate31 the thankless Muse？
Were it not better done as others use
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade
Or with the tangles32 of Ne？ra's hair？
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
（That last infirmity of noble mind）
To scorn delights and live laborious33 days；
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find
And think to burst out into sudden blaze
Comes the blind Fury with the abhorrd shears34
And slits35 the thin-spun life. But not the praise
Phoebus replied and touch'd my trembling ears；
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil
Nor in the glistering foil
Set off to the world nor in broad rumour36 lies：
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove；
As he pronounces lastly on each deed
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.
O Fountain Arethuse and thou honour'd flood
Smooth-sliding Mincius crown'd with vocal37 reeds
That strain I heard was of a higher mood.
But now my oat proceeds
And listens to the herald38 of the sea
That came in Neptune's plea；
He ask'd the waves and ask'd the felon39 winds
What hard mishap40 hath doom'd this gentle swain？
And question'd every gust41 of rugged42 wings
That blows from off each beakd promontory43：
They knew not of his story；
And sage27 Hippotades their answer brings
That not a blast was from his dungeon44 stray'd；
The air was calm and on the level brine
Sleek45 Panope with all her sisters play'd.
It was that fatal and perfidious46 bark
Built in the eclipse and rigg'd with curses dark
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.
Next Camus reverend sire went footing slow
His mantle47 hairy and his bonnet48 sedge
Inwrought with figures dim and on the edge
Like to that sanguine49 flower inscribed50 with woe51：
Ah！ who hath reft quoth he my dearest pledge！
Last came and last did go
The Pilot of the Galilean lake；
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain
（The golden opes the iron shuts amain）；
He shook his mitred locks and stern bespake：
How well could I have spared for thee young swain
Enow of such as for their bellies52' sake
Creep and intrude53 and climb into the fold！
Of other care they little reckoning make
Than how to scramble54 at the shearers' feast
And shove away the worthy55 bidden guest.
Blind mouths！ that scarce themselves know how to hold
A sheep-hook or have learn'd aught else the least
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs！
What recks it them？ What need they？ They are sped；
And when they list their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw：
The hungry sheep look up and are not fed
But swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw
Rot inwardly and foul56 contagion57 spread：
Besides what the grim wolf with privy58 paw
Daily devours59 apace and nothing said：
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite60 once and smite no more.
Return Alpheus； the dread61 voice is past
That shrunk thy streams； return Sicilian Muse
And call the vales and bid them hither cast
Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues62.
Ye valleys low where the mild whispers use
Of shades and wanton winds and gushing64 brooks65
On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks
Throw hither all your quaint66 enamell'd eyes
That on the green turf suck the honey'd showers
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
Bring the rathe primrose67 that forsaken68 dies
The tufted crow-toe and pale jessamine
The #CCCCFF pink and the pansy freak'd with jet
The glowing violet
The musk-rose and the well-attird woodbine
With cowslips wan63 that hang the pensive69 head
And every flower that sad embroidery70 wears：
Bid amarantus all his beauty shed
And daffadillies fill their cups with tears
To strew71 the laureat hearse where Lycid lies.
For so to interpose a little ease
Let our frail72 thoughts dally73 with false surmise：
Ay me！ whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away where'er thy bones are hurl'd
Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides
Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide
Visitest the bottom of the monstrous74 world；
Or whether thou to our moist vows75 denied
Sleep'st by the fable76 of Bellerus old
Where the great Vision of the guarded mount
Looks towards Namancosplay and Bayona's hold
Look homeward Angel now and melt with ruth：
And O ye dolphins waft77 the hapless youth！
Weep no more woeful shepherds weep no more
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor：
So sinks the day-star in the ocean-bed
And yet anon repairs his drooping78 head
And tricks his beams and with new-spangl'd ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky：
So Lycidas sunk low but mounted high
Through the dear might of Him that walk'd the waves；
Where other groves79 and other streams along
With nectar pure his oozy80 locks he laves
And hears the unexpressive nuptial81 song
In the blest kingdoms meek82 of joy and love.
There entertain him all the Saints above
In solemn troops and sweet societies
That sing and singing in their glory move
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.
Now Lycidas the shepherds weep no more；
Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore
In thy large recompense and shalt be good
To all that wander in that perilous83 flood.
Thus sang the uncouth84 swain to the oaks and rills
While the still morn went out with sandals gray；
He touch'd the tender sTOPs of various quills85
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay：
And now the sun had stretch'd out all the hills
And now was dropt into the western bay.
At last he rose and twitch'd his mantle blue：
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.
