120
EXTEMPORE.
TO ----------, TO WHOSE INTERFERENCE I CHIEFLY OWE
THE VERY LIBERAL PRICE GIVEN FOR
LALLA ROOKH
When they shall tell, in future times,
Of thousands giv'n for idle rhymes
Like these--the pastime of an hour,
They'll wonder at the lavish taste
That could, like tulip-fanciers, waste
A little fortune on a flower!
Yet wilt not thou, whose friendship set
Such value on the bard's renown;
Yet wilt not thou, my friend, regret
The golden shower thy spell brought down;
For thou dost love the free-born Muse,
Whose flight no curbing chain pursues;
And thou dost think the song, that shrines
That image, --so ador'd by thee,
And spirits like thee,--Liberty,
Of price beyond all India's mines!
THOMAS MOORE