And such, I exclaim'd, is the pitiless part Some act by the delicate mind,
Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart Already to sorrow resign'd.
This elegant rose, had I shaken it less,
Might have bloom'd with its owner awhile; And the tear that is wiped with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.
REASONING at every step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray.
One silent eve I wander'd late, And heard the voice of love; The turtle thus address'd her mate, And sooth'd the listening dove:
Our mutual bond of faith and truth No time shall disengage, Those blessings of our early youth Shall cheer our latest age.
While innocence without disguise, And constancy sincere,
Shall fill the circles of those eyes, And mine can read them there;
Those ills, that wait on all below, Shall ne'er be felt by me, Or gently felt, and only so, As being shared with thee.
When lightnings flash among the trees, Or kites are hovering near,
I fear lest thee alone they seize, And know no other fear.
"Tis then I feel myself a wife, And press thy wedded side, Resolved a union form'd for life Death never shall divide.
But oh! if fickle and unchaste, (Forgive a transient thought) Thou could become unkind at last, And scorn thy present lot.
No need of lightnings from on high, Or kites with cruel beak; Denied the endearments of thine eye, This widow'd heart would break.
Thus sang the sweet sequester'd bird, Soft as the passing wind; And I recorded what I heard, A lesson for mankind.
A RAVEN, while with glossy breast Her new-laid eggs she fondly press'd, And, on her wicker work high mounted, Her chickens prematurely counted. (A fault philosophers might blame If quite exempted from the same,) Enjoy'd at ease the genial day; 'Twas April, as the bumpkins say, The legislature call'd it May. But suddenly a wind as high, As ever swept a winter sky,
Shook the young leaves about her ears, And fill'd her with a thousand fears, Lest the rude blast should snap the bough, And spread her golden hopes below. But just at eve the blowing weather And all her fears were hush'd together: And now, quoth poor unthinking Ralph, 'Tis over, and the brood is safe; (For ravens, though as birds of omen They teach both conj'rers and old women To tell us what is to befall,
Can't prophesy themselves at all.)
The morning came, when neighbour Hodge, Who long had mark'd her airy lodge,
And destined all the treasure there
A gift to his expecting fair,
Climb'd like a squirrel to his prey, And bore the worthless prize away.
"Tis Providence alone secures
In every change, both mine and yours: Safety consists not in escape From dangers of a frightful shape; An earthquake may be bid to spare The man that's strangled by a hair. Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread; Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
THE lapse of time and rivers is the same, Both speed their journey with a restless stream; The silent pace, with which they steal away, No wealth can bribe, no prayers persuade to stay;
Alike irrevocable both when past, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. Though each resemble each in every part,
A difference strikes at length the musing heart; Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound, How laughs the land with various plenty crown'd! But time, that should enrich the nobler mind, Neglected, leaves a dreary waste behind.
ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.
SWEET stream, that winds through yonder glade, Apt emblem of a virtuous maid-
Silent and chaste she steals along,
Far from the world's gay busy throng;
With gentle yet prevailing force, Intent upon her destined course;
Graceful and useful all she does,
Blessing and bless'd where'er she goes, Pure-bosom'd as that watery glass,
And heaven reflected in her face.
THE POET'S NEW-YEAR'S GIFT.
TO MRS. (NOW LADY) THROCKMORTON.
MARIA! I have every good
For thee wish'd many a time, Both sad and in a cheerful mood, But never yet in rhyme.
To wish thee fairer is no need, More prudent, or more sprightly, Or more ingenuous, or more freed From temper-flaws unsightly.
What favour then, not yet possess'd, Can I for thee require,
In wedded love already bless'd
To thy whole heart's desire?
None here is happy but in part: Full bliss is bliss divine;
There dwells some wish in every heart And doubtless one in thine.
That wish, on some fair future day, Which Fate shall brightly gild, ('Tis blameless, be it what it may,) I wish it all fulfill'd.
ON AN INKGLASS, ALMOST DRIED IN THE SUN.
PATRON of all those luckless brains That, to the wrong side leaning, Indite much metre with much pains, And little or no meaning:
Ah why, since oceans, rivers, streams, That water all the nations, Pay tribute to thy glorious beams, In constant exhalations;
Why, stooping at the noon of day, Too covetous of drink, Apollo, hast thou stolen away A poet's drop of ink?
Upborne into the viewless air
It floats a vapour now,
Impell'd through regions dense and rare, By all the winds that blow.
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