Poems on Various Subjects with some Essays in Prose, Letters to Correspondents, &c. and A Treatise on Health. By Samuel Bowden |
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PLEASURE.
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 | Poems on Various Subjects |  |
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PLEASURE.
Written at the Request of Mrs. ELIZABETH SINGER, (Afterwards Mrs. Rowe) BY THE Late Reverend Mr. John Bowden.
1.
In vain, unless thou first inspire,Shall I attempt thy boundless praise,
In vain my grov'ling genius try to raise,
'Till wing'd by thy immortal fire.
O! Goddess kindly then dispense
Thy gentle powerful influence;
Let ev'ry passion, ev'ry sense,
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Let vig'rous warmth, soft joy, and melting love,
Invade, and uncontrol'd thro' all my pulses move.
2.
'Tis done! thy charms already I obey,A wond'rous bright, and heav'nly day
Already does its morning lustre shed:
Already infant-light sits smiling round my head.
Darkness, and melancholy gloom,
In awful haste resign their room.
In haste, the baleful monsters of the night,
Pierc'd with thy flaming darts of light,
Attempt their long unwilling flight.
In ev'ry vein a blooming ardor burns,
And all my kindled blood to active spirits turns.
Enchanting joys surround my heart,
And nimbly rush thro' ev'ry part;
And now the tide flows large and high;
And now, I hardly stem th' impetuous joy;
And now, I'm rapture all, and extasy!
3.
What lofty praises are thy due!What theme more fit for Men, and Angels too?
Angels, who grace the seats above,
Those realms of purest joy, and love.
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And sullen grief, and chill despair,
And anxious care, and pining woe,
Do ne'er their ghastly visage shew.
There, with immortal youth they're crown'd,
While fadeless glorys round them play,
And heavenly splendors gild their way,
And all they hear is music's sacred sound.
Ten thousand joys around them throng;
Ten thousand joys inspire their song;
And him they praise, and him they bless,
From whose vast bounty num'rous pleasures flow,
To them above, and us below.
Th' exhaustless fountain of all happiness.
And whilst their Maker's praises they recite,
They spring fresh oceans of delight;
And with fresh praises these abound.
Thus rapture, love, and praise,
By turns engage their happy days,
This their employment is—this their eternal round.
4.
Before old Chaos into order roll'd,Or heav'n essay'd its wonders to unfold.
Before the mighty orbs to flame begun,
Or restless planets whirl'd about the sun.
Before, before, Man's dusty frame was rais'd,
Or Angels more divine in hymns their Maker prais'd,
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Made thee the object of his vast desire.
And when faint nature breaths her latest groan,
And times scant limits are no longer known.
When jarring spheres asunder fly,
And all their glorys wink and die:
When wild confusion thro' the whole is hurl'd,
And ruin's dreadful voice resounds from world to world;
Still the Creator from all changes free,
O! charming pleasure! still he dwells with thee:
Still, still, he feels ineffable delight,
He's God, because his joys are infinite.
5.
The most exalted earthly God,That shakes whole realms with his imperious nod;
Who common mortals does despise,
And lifts his lofty head up to the skies:
Ev'n he, to thy soft sceptre bows,
And at thy altar pays his constant vows:
Ev'n he, prefers his bliss before his state,
And to be pleas'd, oft' ceases to be great.
6.
Victors themselves thy conquests own,And fall like vassals at thy throne.
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And with more natural passions warms their veins.
No more they rage, no more they swell,
No more of blood and slaughter tell;
No more wild fury sparkles at their eyes,
The monster sees thee come, and all disorder flies.
7.
Hail! to the spring of all that's brave, and great,Hail! thou that dost inspire the hero's gen'rous heat.
Tyrants might else regale with blood,
And villains trample o'er the good;
Long virtue might in rags appear,
And vice triumphant garlands wear:
The groaning nations long complain,
And captives drag their hated chain,
And injur'd orphans cry for help in vain.
Nassau himself confess'd thy force,
Which led the godlike man thro' all his shining course.
Those acts which broke th' oppressors rods,
Did monsters quell, and furies tame,
Which won the hero's deathless name,
And now have plac'd him high among the Gods.
Were all the inspiration of thy flame:
Divinest transports urg'd his royal breast,
He felt, like God, the joys of making mortals blest.
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8.
Those fadeless monuments of wit, and sense,Like inmost heav'n refin'd, and pure,
And which like that shall still endure,
And countless blessings to the world dispense,
Are all the genuine fruit of thy sweet influence.
By thee the Greek, and Roman shine;
Milton by thee is all divine,
And Locke's immortal works are thine.
When lovely Philomela strikes the lyre,
Thou dost the soft harmonious song inspire.
Those strains which all mankind surprise, and bless,
Which charm illustrious Anna's heart,
Which ravish seraphs, and disclose their art,
Do all thy sacred force, and mighty power confess.
9.
Thro' all the various courses men pursue,Thou art the mark they keep in view;
They still are constant to thy charms,
And find no rest but in thy tempting arms.
For thee the heavyest toils we bear,
Nor life itself in search of thee is dear:
Where danger shews its frightful'st face,
Heedless, we plunge thro' all, to feel thy soft embrace.
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10.
Where thy auspicious form draws nearAll ghastly phantoms disappear;
Sorrow and rage transform to love and play,
Night wantons in the gawdy robes of day.
Chagrin vouchsafes a smile, and age its self looks gay;
Life's nimble wheels a swifter motion try,
The blooming cheeks put on a rosy dye,
And sportive Cupids flutter in the eye.
11.
May still thy brightest scenes my mind employ,Still plunge me goddess, in thy purest joy.
Joys which no ebb nor interruption know,
But in full current always flow,
Triumph o'er adverse fate, and make a heaven below.
Joys which can no where else be found,
But on fair virtues sacred ground;
The rest, the more they please, the more they wound.
All guilty pleasure like the syrens charm,
With hov'ring ills the cheated wretch alarm.
They sooth the sense, but strike a dreadful blow,
And for a moments joy, repay an age of woe.
| Poems on Various Subjects | |