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CantoEstrofaVersoTexo originalTraducción
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I. BY firm immutable immortal laws
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Impress'd on Nature by the GREAT FIRST CAUSE,
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Say, MUSE! how rose from elemental strife
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Organic forms, and kindled into life;
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How Love and Sympathy with potent charm
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Warm the cold heart, the lifted hand disarm;
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Allure with pleasures, and alarm with pains,
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And bind Society in golden chains.
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Four past eventful Ages then recite,
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And give the fifth, new-born of Time, to light;
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The silken tissue of their joys disclose,
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Swell with deep chords the murmur of their woes;
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Their laws, their labours, and their loves proclaim,
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And chant their virtues to the trump of Fame.
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IMMORTAL LOVE! who ere the morn of Time,
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On wings outstretch'd, o'er Chaos hung sublime;
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Warm'd into life the bursting egg of Night,
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And gave young Nature to admiring Light!—
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YOU! whose wide arms, in soft embraces hurl'd
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Round the vast frame, connect the whirling world!
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Whether immers'd in day, the Sun your throne,
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You gird the planets in your silver zone;
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Or warm, descending on ethereal wing,
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The Earth's cold bosom with the beams of spring;
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Press drop to drop, to atom atom bind,
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Link sex to sex, or rivet mind to mind;
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Attend my song!—With rosy lips rehearse,
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And with your polish'd arrows write my verse!—
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So shall my lines soft-rolling eyes engage,
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And snow-white fingers turn the volant page;
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The smiles of Beauty all my toils repay,
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And youths and virgins chant the living lay.
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II. WHERE EDEN's sacred bowers triumphant sprung,
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By angels guarded, and by prophets sung,
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Wav'd o'er the east in purple pride unfurl'd,
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Four sparkling currents lav'd with wandering tides
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Their velvet avenues, and flowery sides;
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On sun-bright lawns unclad the Graces stray'd,
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And guiltless Cupids haunted every glade;
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Till the fair Bride, forbidden shades among,
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Heard unalarm'd the Tempter's serpent-tongue;
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Eyed the sweet fruit, the mandate disobey'd,
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And her fond Lord with sweeter smiles betray'd.
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Conscious awhile with throbbing heart he strove,
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Spread his wide arms, and barter'd life for love!—
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Now rocks on rocks, in savage grandeur roll'd,
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Steep above steep, the blasted plains infold;
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The incumbent crags eternal tempest shrouds,
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And livid light'nings cleave the lambent clouds;
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Round the firm base loud-howling whirlwinds blow,
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And sands in burning eddies dance below.
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Hence ye profane!—the warring winds exclude
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Unhallow'd throngs, that press with footstep rude;
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But court the Muse's train with milder skies,
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And call with softer voice the good and wise.
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—Charm'd at her touch the opening wall divides,
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And rocks of crystal form the polish'd sides;
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Through the bright arch the Loves and Graces tread,
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Innocuous thunders murmuring o'er their head;
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Pair after pair, and tittering, as they pass,
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View their fair features in the walls of glass;
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Leave with impatient step the circling bourn,
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And hear behind the closing rocks return.
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HERE, high in air, unconscious of the storm,
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Thy temple, NATURE, rears its mystic form;
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From earth to heav'n, unwrought by mortal toil,
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Towers the vast fabric on the desert soil;
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O'er many a league the ponderous domes extend,
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And deep in earth the ribbed vaults descend;
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A thousand jasper steps with circling sweep
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Lead the slow votary up the winding steep;
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Ten thousand piers, now join'd and now aloof,
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Bear on their branching arms the fretted roof.
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Unnumber'd ailes connect unnumber'd halls,
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With pencil rude forgotten days design,
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And arts, or empires, live in every line.
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While chain'd reluctant on the marble ground,
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Indignant TIME reclines, by Sculpture bound;
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And sternly bending o'er a scroll unroll'd,
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Inscribes the future with his style of gold.
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New forms assum'd of eagle, pard, or boar;
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The wise ATRIDES bound in sea-weed thongs
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The changeful god amid his scaly throngs;
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Till in deep tones his opening lips at last
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Reluctant told the future and the past.
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HERE o'er piazza'd courts, and long arcades,
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The bowers of PLEASURE root their waving shades;