On Receiving a Picture of Swans

With pensive grace the melancholy SwanMourns o'er the tomb of luckless Phaeton;On grassy banks the weeping poplars wave,And guard with tender care the wat'ry grave.Would that I might, should I too proudly claimAn heav'nly parent, or a god-like fame.

When flown too high, and dash'd to depths below,Receive such tribute as a Cygnus' woe.The faithful bird, that dumbly floats along,Sighs all the deeper for his want of song!