Anna Laetitia Barbauld - What Do The Futures Speak Of? lyrics

IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION IN THE GREEK GRAMMAR They speak of never-withering shades, And bowers of opening joy; They promise mines of fairy gold, And bliss without alloy. They whisper strange enchanting things Within Hope's greedy ears; And sure this tuneful voice exceeds The music of the spheres. They speak of pleasure to the gay, And wisdom to the wise; And soothe the poet's beating heart With fame that never dies. To virgins languishing in love They speak the minute nigh; And warm consenting hearts they join, And paint the rapture high. In every language, every tongue, The same kind things they say; In gentle slumbers speak by night, In waking dreams by day. Ca**andra's fate reversed is theirs; She true, no faith could gain,— They every pa**ing hour deceive, Yet are believed again.