"A HYMN to the MORNING" by Phillis Wheatley

Read and more GoodPoetry at www.GoodPoetry.org, and listen on Audible, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Anchor.Fm, iHeart, and GooglePlay Music and connect with us @itsGoodPoetry on Facebook, and Twitter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photograph Info: From the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a40394. .---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Poem: A Hymn to the Morning ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour'd nine,Assist my labours, and my strains refine;In smoothest numbers pour the notes along,For bright Aurora now demands my song.Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,On ev'ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays;Harmonious lays the feather'd race resume,Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom displayTo shield your poet from the burning day:Calliope awake the sacred lyre,While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire:The bow'rs, the gales, the variegated skiesIn all their pleasures in my bosom rise.See in the east th' illustrious king of day!His rising radiance drives the shades away--But Oh! I feel his fervid beams too strong,And scarce begun, concludes th' abortive song.