The Poetry Corner

Morning - Turner. (Exhibition, 1807.)

By William Lisle Bowles

Up! for the morning shines with welcome ray, And to the sunny seabeach let us stray. What orient hues proclaim the master's hand! How light the wave upon the half-wet sand! How beautiful the sun, as still we gaze, Streams all diffusive through the opening haze! Artist, when to the thunder's pealing sound, Fire mixed with hailstones ran upon the ground, When partial darkness the dread prospect hid, And sole aspired the aged pyramid Sublimity thy genius seemed to guide O'er Egypt's champaign, desolate and wide; But here delightful beauty reigns alone, And decks the morning scene with graces all her own.