 | The Poems of Robert Bloomfield |  |
GLEANER'S SONG.
Dear Ellen, your tales are all plenteously stored
With the joys of some bride, and the wealth of her lord:
Of her chariots and dresses,
And worldly caresses,
And servants that fly when she's waited upon:
But what can she boast if she weds unbeloved?
Can she e'er feel the joy that one morning I proved,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John?
With the joys of some bride, and the wealth of her lord:
Of her chariots and dresses,
And worldly caresses,
17
But what can she boast if she weds unbeloved?
Can she e'er feel the joy that one morning I proved,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John?
These fields, my dear Ellen, I knew them of yore,
Yet to me they ne'er look'd so enchanting before;
The distant bells ringing,
The birds round us singing,
For pleasure is pure when affection is won:
They told me the troubles and cares of a wife;
But I loved him; and that was the pride of my life,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John.
Yet to me they ne'er look'd so enchanting before;
The distant bells ringing,
The birds round us singing,
For pleasure is pure when affection is won:
They told me the troubles and cares of a wife;
But I loved him; and that was the pride of my life,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John.
He shouted and ran, as he leapt from the stile;
And what in my bosom was passing the while?
For love knows the blessing
Of ardent caressing,
When virtue inspires us, and doubts are all gone.
The sunshine of Fortune you say is divine;
True love and the sunshine of Nature were mine,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John.
And what in my bosom was passing the while?
For love knows the blessing
Of ardent caressing,
18
The sunshine of Fortune you say is divine;
True love and the sunshine of Nature were mine,
When I put on my new-gown and waited for John.
| The Poems of Robert Bloomfield | |