Page:Tale of Paraguay - Southey.djvu/26

30 Gathering a thousand rivers on his way, Huge Orellana rolls his affluent flood; And where the happier sons of Paraguay, By gentleness and pious art subdued, Bow'd their meek heads beneath the Jesuits' sway. And lived and died in filial servitude.

I love thus uncontroll'd, as in a dream, To muse upon the course of human things; Exploring sometimes the remotest springs, Far as tradition lends one guiding gleam; Or following, upon Thought's audacious wings, Into Futurity, the endless stream. But now in quest of no ambitious height, I go where truth and nature lead my way, And ceasing here from desultory flight, In measured strains I tell a Tale of Paraguay.