The Mission Of The Bard.

He is a seer. He wears the wedding-ring          Of Art and Nature; and his voice is bold.         He should be quicker than the birds to sing,          And fill'd with frenzy like the men of old         Who sang their songs for country and for king.          Nothing should daunt him, though the news were told          By fiends from Hell! He should be swift to hold         And swift to part with truth, as from a spring.          He should discourse of war and war's alarm,         And deeds of peace, and garlands to be sought,          And love, and lore, and death, and beauty's charm,         And warlike men subdued by tender thought,         And grief dismiss'd, and hatred set at nought,          And Freedom shielded by his strong right arm!