ROUNDELAY
by: Richard Jago (1715-1781)
- ISTERS of
the tuneful train,
- Attend your parent' s jocund strain,
- 'Tis Fancy calls you; follow me
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- On Avon's banks, where Shakespeare's bust
- Points out, and guards his sleeping dust;
- The sons of scenic mirth agree,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- Come, daughters, come, and bring with you,
- Th'aerial Sprites and Fairy-crew,
- And the sister Graces three,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- Hang around the sculptur'd tomb
- The 'broider'd vest, the nodding plume,
- And the mask of comic glee,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- From Birnam Wood, and Bosworth Field,
- Bring the standard, bring the shield,
- With drums and martial symphony,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- In mournful numbers now relate
- Poor Desdemona's hapless fate,
- With frantic deeds of jealousy,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- Nor be Windsor's Wives forgot,
- With their harmless merry plot,
- The whitening mead, and haunted tree,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
-
- Now in jocund strains recite
- The humours of the braggard Knight,
- Fat Knight, and ancient Pistol he,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
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- But see in crowds the Gay, the Fair,
- To the splendid scene repair,
- A scene as line as fine can be,
- To celebrate the Jubilee.
"Roundelay" was written
for the Jubilee at Stratford-upon-Avon, 1769. |
MORE
POEMS BY RICHARD JAGO |
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