05.05.2012, 16:41
To James Brunton Stephens
ELDEST and first of Austral singers! Thee,
Who for thy work now tak'st of fame thy wage,
I, least and latest of thy lineage,
Do greet with reverence: yet 'twixt thee and me
'Tis not sole tie that I have dared to be
A lowly craftsman of the minstrel page,
For in thy ear and mine is still the rage
Of storms that scourge the Caledonian sea. -
Nor kin through these alone, nor that we are
Of one august dominion, yet to rise,
Even now enfranchised; but of kindred most,
That not removed from my scant youth more far
Than from thy opulent age, the Ocean lies
That frets for ever Time's unstable coast.
ELDEST and first of Austral singers! Thee,
Who for thy work now tak'st of fame thy wage,
I, least and latest of thy lineage,
Do greet with reverence: yet 'twixt thee and me
'Tis not sole tie that I have dared to be
A lowly craftsman of the minstrel page,
For in thy ear and mine is still the rage
Of storms that scourge the Caledonian sea. -
Nor kin through these alone, nor that we are
Of one august dominion, yet to rise,
Even now enfranchised; but of kindred most,
That not removed from my scant youth more far
Than from thy opulent age, the Ocean lies
That frets for ever Time's unstable coast.