Ode To Echo Poem by Samuel Bowden

By Mr. R--L.

Daughter sweet of voice and air.
Gentle Echo haste thee here.
From the vale where all around
Hollow rocks return the sound:
From the swelling surge that roars,
On the tempest-beaten shores:
From the silent moss-grown cell,
Haunt of warbling Philomel.
Where unseen of man you lie,
Queen of woodland harmony.
Daughter sweet of voice and air,
Gentle Echo haste thee here.


Listen nymph divine, and learn
Strains to make Narcissus burn.
Hark! the heavenly song begins,
Air be still! breath soft ye winds!
Peace ye noisy feather'd choir,
While Dione strikes the lyre.
See each eye, each raptur'd ear,
Fix'd to gaze, and charm'd to hear!
All around enchantment reigns,
Such the magic of her strains:
Strains, which if thou can'st but learn,
Soon will make Narcissus burn!


Echo should they fail to move
His obdurate heart to love,
Borrow (for she well can spare)
Borrow her enchanting air.
Learn her ease and elegance
Of motion in the airy dance.
Learn the grace with which she strays
Thro' the light fantastic maze;
And a thousand charms untold,
Should Narcissus still be cold.
Charms! the least of which would move
His obdurate heart to love.