Devonshire Roads

The indignant Bard composed this furious ode,

As tired he dragg'd his way thro' Plimtree road!

       &nbsp       &nbspCrusted with filth and stuck in mire

       &nbsp       &nbspDull sounds the Bard's bemudded lyre;

       &nbsp       &nbspNathless Revenge and Ire the Poet goad

       &nbsp       &nbspTo pour his imprecations on the road.





       &nbsp       &nbspCurst road! whose execrable way

       &nbsp       &nbspWas darkly shadow'd out in Milton's lay,

       &nbsp       &nbspWhen the sad fiends thro' Hell's sulphureous roads

       &nbsp       &nbspTook the first survey of their new abodes;

       &nbsp       &nbspOr when the fall'n Archangel fierce

       &nbsp       &nbspDar'd through the realms of Night to pierce,

       &nbsp       &nbspWhat time the Bloodhound lur'd by Human scent

       &nbsp       &nbspThro' all Confusion's quagmires floundering went.





Nor cheering pipe, nor Bird's shrill note

Around thy dreary paths shall float;

Their boding songs shall scritch-owls pour

To fright the guilty shepherds sore,

Led by the wandering fires astray

Thro' the dank horrors of thy way!

While they their mud-lost sandals hunt

May all the curses, which they grunt

In raging moan like goaded hog,

Alight upon thee, damnéd Bog!