Collected poems of Samuel Davies : 1723-1761

No! never, never can this Heart
From Thee her God, her All, depart.
Indulge my Boldness; I protest
In Thee alone I must be blest;
I'm fixt, resolv'dly fixt, in this
Thyself, or nought shall be my Bliss:
I swear by the eternal Three,
I will accept no Bliss but Thee.
Put me not off with golden Toys,
With empty Honours, sensual Joys.
O! do not thy poor Servant doom
To Crowns and Empires in Thy Room.
I loath the Happiness that springs
From these and all created Things,
Sooner may Gold or Dust asswage
The parched Pilgrim's thirsty Rage,
When under torrid Lybian Skies,
On burning Sands, he faints and dies:
Sooner, than these inferior Toys
Can fill me with substantial Joys.

Since of Thy Love I tasted first,
All other Pleasures I disgust:
Since first Thy Beauties charm'd my Sight,
Created Charms yield no Delight.

118

O! if I'm doom'd Thy Frowns to feel,
Why didst Thou e'er Thy Smiles reveal?
Why with Thy Glories charm my Eye,
If I must see and ne'er enjoy?
O! why torment me with the Views
Of Bliss I must for ever lose?

O! if I must for ever dwell
Absent from Thee, why did not Hell
Devour me, e'er I felt this Flame?
This ardent Passion to Thy Name?
Then had my Soul ne'er understood
The Loss of an infinite Good;
Nor languish'd in eternal Pain,
Pleasures once tasted to regain;
Nor in tormenting Anguish pin'd
To call Thy once felt Smiles to Mind.

But hence each dire Surmise! away!
My gracious God would not display
His Glories to enflame my Heart,
If I were destin'd to depart.
He would not cruelly deride
My Soul with Bliss to be deny'd;
Nor kindle Love to pant in vain,
And rack me with augmented Pain.
No! His own Self will satisfy
The Wishes He has rais'd so high.

University of Virginia Library

[No. I. No! never, never can this Heart]