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123
IVY COTTAGE.
WRITTEN IN THE DEPTH OF WINTER, WHILE ON A VISIT TO MR. AND MRS. MACGEORGE.
In yonder modest Cot, with Ivy bound,
Full many a pleasing theme has Friendship found.
Around the pictur'd rooms the eye regales
On mimic mountains, and on painted vales:
On these the barren suns appear to glow;
On those to ripen fruitful fields below.
Kings, queens, and princes, deck the storied walls;
Here floats a wreck, and there a ruin falls.
And, though stern Winter chills the earth, we see
Frost hangs his spangled pictures on each tree;—
Fantastic forms—amusing to the view,
Chaste to the chisel, to the pencil true:
Some airy frolic, or some quaint device,
Lovers in frost-work, buxom dames in ice;
Hoar monks congealing on the bending bough,
And hooded nuns all freezing in their vow;
And damsels petrified, as frail as fair,
Their virgin whiteness form'd, alas! of air—
Of fleeting air—for Sol's first amorous ray
Full soon shall melt the yielding maids away:
A second beam, more warm, shall instant draw
The crystal convent to a general thaw.
These charms without:—within each guest can tell
That Love and Friendship in this Cottage dwell;
That Hospitality in smiles is there,
The Friend to welcome, and the Feast prepare.
Full many a pleasing theme has Friendship found.
Around the pictur'd rooms the eye regales
On mimic mountains, and on painted vales:
On these the barren suns appear to glow;
On those to ripen fruitful fields below.
Kings, queens, and princes, deck the storied walls;
Here floats a wreck, and there a ruin falls.
And, though stern Winter chills the earth, we see
Frost hangs his spangled pictures on each tree;—
Fantastic forms—amusing to the view,
Chaste to the chisel, to the pencil true:
Some airy frolic, or some quaint device,
Lovers in frost-work, buxom dames in ice;
Hoar monks congealing on the bending bough,
And hooded nuns all freezing in their vow;
And damsels petrified, as frail as fair,
Their virgin whiteness form'd, alas! of air—
Of fleeting air—for Sol's first amorous ray
Full soon shall melt the yielding maids away:
A second beam, more warm, shall instant draw
The crystal convent to a general thaw.
These charms without:—within each guest can tell
That Love and Friendship in this Cottage dwell;
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The Friend to welcome, and the Feast prepare.
And, would you see what rarely Cots bestow,
And Palaces more rare,—this Cot can show;
Three objects yet the attentive Guest invite,
To give the friendly heart more full delight:
Three happy Portraits drawn from real Life,
And two of these—O strange!—a Man and Wife;
The third a Child—of both the darling bliss,
And their sole strife is for an Infant's kiss:
And whosoe'er dispute their happy lot,
Have but to make a visit to the Cot;
But, would the Cottagers these Portraits see,
Their faithful Mirror will reflect the Three.
And Palaces more rare,—this Cot can show;
Three objects yet the attentive Guest invite,
To give the friendly heart more full delight:
Three happy Portraits drawn from real Life,
And two of these—O strange!—a Man and Wife;
The third a Child—of both the darling bliss,
And their sole strife is for an Infant's kiss:
And whosoe'er dispute their happy lot,
Have but to make a visit to the Cot;
But, would the Cottagers these Portraits see,
Their faithful Mirror will reflect the Three.
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