The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse (1735-1820): Edited by the Rev. R. I. Woodhouse |
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| II. |
PALEMON AND COLINET.
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 | The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse |  |
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PALEMON AND COLINET.
A PASTORAL ELEGY.
When spring with green had every grove array'd,
And deck'd the fields in all their flow'ry pride,
Two shepherds met beneath an hazel shade,
Palemon sung, and Colinet reply'd:
And deck'd the fields in all their flow'ry pride,
Two shepherds met beneath an hazel shade,
Palemon sung, and Colinet reply'd:
'Twas in the Lessowes sadly-pleasing grove,
Beside the margin of that weeping stream,
Contending passions in their bosoms strove,
And long-lost Damon was their mournful theme.
PALEMON.Beside the margin of that weeping stream,
Contending passions in their bosoms strove,
And long-lost Damon was their mournful theme.
I still frequent dear Damon's matchless bow'rs,
His limpid springs, and sweet umbrageous vales;
Where I was wont to pass the blisful hours,
When Damon's voice attun'd the scented gales.
COLINET.
Sure, never shepherd sung so sweet a strain,
None could in soft instructive tales excel;
None could, like him, express a lover's pain;
But, all his fame his songs alone can tell.
PALEMON.
A gentler soul ne'er warm'd a shepherd's breast,
He spurn'd not pen'ry with imperious air;
Low worth exulted, with his bounty blest;
Each tuneful swain was his peculiar care.
COLINET.
But, ah! no more his voice shall charm the grove,
From lowly worth his future bounty's fled;
No more shall tuneful swain his goodness prove,
He's gone to mix among the vulgar dead.
PALEMON.
Ah! now I feel, again, the pangful wound
Which late I felt, lamenting o'er his grave,
With vulgar turf and twisted brier bound,
Nor less prophan'd than that which shrowds a slave.
COLINET.
While murd'rous chiefs, and crafty statesmen's dust,
And titled vice, and scepter'd ignorance, lie
Beneath the sculptur'd stone, and polish'd bust,
Where lying motto's catch the cheated eye.
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When Damon's brother fell by partial fates,
His pious hands fraternal trophies raise;
And one, his tuneful friend commemorates,
And one, proclaims the beauteous Dolman's praise.
COLINET.
What tho' no grateful soul, with gen'rous hand,
Nor marble urn, nor common tombstone give,
In shepherds' hearts his character shall stand,
And, in his lays, his fame shall ever live.
PALEMON.
My only ram should quit my little fold,
(Nor would Narcissa that profusion blame)
To see bright marble Damon's dust enfold,
And lasting epitaph support his fame.
COLINET.
Perchance, in future day, some friend sincere,
Of tuneful genius, and of soul sublime,
Some monument may o'er his ashes rear,
And snatch his mem'ry from the wreck of time.
PALEMON.
Mean-while, from Damon's fields, and Damon's bow'rs,
What charm'd him with their tints, or soft perfume,
We'll yearly cull, sweet shrubs, and glowing flow'rs,
And spread the grateful wreath upon his tomb.
March 31, 1764.
| The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse | |