Fragment of an Ode to Maia, written on May Day, 1818


Mother of Hermes! and still youthful Maia!
May I sing to thee
As thou was hymned on the shores of Baiæ?
Or may I woo thee
In earlier Sicilan? or thy smiles
Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles,
By Bards who died content on pleasant sward,
Leaving great verse unto a little clan?
O give me their old vigou, and unheard,
Save of the quiet Primrose, and the span
Of Heaven and few ears
Rounded by thee My song should die away
Content as theirs
Rich in the simple worship of a day. -


Posthumous and fugitive Poems
[Read the letter containing this poem.]