COME, Phoenix, come, if such a bird there be, Point me out the happy tree, Whose boughs can boast they bear the nest Wherein thou lov'st to rest: O lead me to the envied place, Which thou dost with thy presence grace. Arabia boasts she is the spot of earth Wherein thou first got birth. Dost thou never change thy clime In so vast a space of time? What entertainment hast thou there, That is not any other where? Come westward, noble bird, and see What homage we will pay to thee. But hark! I hear Arabia's sons reply: 'We enjoy tranquillity In a more enlarged extent Than any other continent; We possess a richer soil, With less labour and less toil, Than any men below, And live at greater distance from a foe. 'Our stately trees all kinds of spices bear, Our fountains gratify the ear, Each leaf in consort joins to please With the soft whispers of the evening breeze. Here doth Phoebus make his bed, 'Tis by him she's hither led: Why should not we the honour have To her a residence to give? 'To our blest land did Nature send the fire In which her mother did expire: Five hundred years she lived a chaste exile, Then died upon the funeral pile; Out of her fragrant ashes came This exalted bird of fame; To Phoebus' burning rays she owes her life; In his chaste arms her mother died, ere she was made a wife.' Such fables oft are told of thee, Yet I confess thou seems to me A bird begot by Poetry. Thousands have beheld thee on The fabled mountain Helicon: 'Tis there thou loves to dwell. Nay, I myself have seen thee there, But never any other where, Except at Pindar's well. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PROBLEM by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE CALL TO THE COLORS by ARTHUR GUITERMAN NATURAL HISTORY by MOTHER GOOSE SAINT PAUL: 1 by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS ARMSTRONG'S GOOD NIGHT by THOMAS ARMSTRONG |