Margaret Chalmers

On the Expected Return of Lord Collingwood to England

WHILE every muse impatient waits
    To meet the hero on the strand,
And welcome Collingwood's return,
    Triumphant! to his native land,
Will he forgive a Thulian maid
    Her rude attempt, untaught to sing,
Who never trod Aonian mount,
    Nor ever sipp'd Pierian spring.
Stern Neptune, give thy sea-nymphs charge
    The stormy billows close to keep;
And guide thy gallant, favour'd son,
    In safety o'er the dangerous deep.
Ye gentle gales, auspicious blow,
    And waft the hero o'er the sea;
And, lo! he comes in happy time
    To join our British Jubilee.
On Trafalgar's victorious day,
    When warring navies shook the sea;
Humanely brave, thy valour shone,
    Th' eventful hour devolv'd on thee.
Great Nelson's shade, yet lingering near,
    Delay'd his bliss; well pleas'd to see
Thy gallant arm assume the charge,
    And Britain's hope revive in thee.
Nor only in the dreadful scene
    Of war's fell thunder, dost thou shine;
The gentler feelings of the heart,
    The social virtues too are thine.
'Tis thine to trace the claim of worth,
    Thine modest merit to descry;
'Tis thine to feel for those who mourn,
    And wipe the tear from sorrow's eye.
With earnest suppliance let us bend,
    Before Hygeia's crowded shrine;
And sue, that in the hero's wreath
    Of laurel, she her rose would twine.
For, ah! long tost on foreign seas,
    The glow of health begins to fade;
May native climate, scenes, and joys
    Combine, its wish'd return to aid.
With throbbing heart and bounding step,
    Thy gentle consort climbs the height;
Entranc'd the blissful moment flies
    Which gives thy vessel to her sight.
Now Britons hasten to the shore,
    With joyful shouts the hero greet;
Let martial strains salute his ear,
    And lay the laurel at his feet.