Page:Poems on Various Subjects - Coleridge (1796).djvu/24

 Sublime of thought, and confident of fame, From vales where Avon winds the came. Light-hearted youth! aye, as he hastes along, He meditates the future song, How dauntless Ælla fray'd the Dacyan foes; And, as floating high in air Glitter the sunny visions fair, His eyes dance rapture, and his bosom glows! Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health, With generous joy he views th' ideal wealth; He hears the widow's heaven-breath'd prayer of praise He marks the shelter'd orphan's tearful gaze; Or, where the sorrow-shrivell'd captive lay, Pours the bright blaze of Freedom's noon-tide ray: And now, indignant, "grasps the patriot steel," And her own iron rod he makes Oppression feel.