 | Poems on several occasions |  |
83
TO Miss K--- P---.
[Amid thy native mountains, Cambrian fair]
Si un arbre avoit du sentiment, il se plairoit à voir celui qui
le cultive se reposer sous son ombrage, respirer le parfum de
ses fleurs, gouter la douceur de ses fruits: Je suis cet arbre,
cultivé par vous, & la Nature m' a donné une ame.
Marmontel.
Amid thy native mountains, Cambrian fair,
Were some lone plant supported by thy care,
Sav'd from the blast, from winter's chlliing powers,
In vernal suns, in vernal shades and showers,
By thee reviving: did the favoured tree
Exist, and blossom and mature by thee:
To that selected plant did Heaven dispense,
With vegetable life, a nobler sense:
Would it not bless thy virtues, gentle maid?
Would it not woo thy beauties to its shade?
Bid all its buds in rich luxuriance shoot,
To crown thy summer with autumnal fruit,
Spread all its leaves, a pillow to thy rest,
Give all its flowers to languish on thy breast,
Reject the tendrils of th'uxorious vine,
And stretch its longing arms to circle thine?
Were some lone plant supported by thy care,
Sav'd from the blast, from winter's chlliing powers,
In vernal suns, in vernal shades and showers,
By thee reviving: did the favoured tree
Exist, and blossom and mature by thee:
To that selected plant did Heaven dispense,
With vegetable life, a nobler sense:
84
Would it not woo thy beauties to its shade?
Bid all its buds in rich luxuriance shoot,
To crown thy summer with autumnal fruit,
Spread all its leaves, a pillow to thy rest,
Give all its flowers to languish on thy breast,
Reject the tendrils of th'uxorious vine,
And stretch its longing arms to circle thine?
Yes; in Creation's intellectual reign,
Where life, sense, reason, with progressive chain,
Dividing, blending, form th'harmonious whole:
—That plant am I, distinguish'd by a soul.
Where life, sense, reason, with progressive chain,
Dividing, blending, form th'harmonious whole:
—That plant am I, distinguish'd by a soul.
| Poems on several occasions | |