A Collection of Original Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Bid grief, that vulture to my breast,
Sharper than what Prometheus knows,
Avaunt! and leave the bard at rest:
Grant, heav'nly maids, the wish'd repose.

158

IV

'Tis done! aloof misfortunes stand!
While ev'ry thought on you is bent;
You can the healing balm command,
Which gives the troubled mind content.

V

But the wish'd blessing will not hold,
For, oh! when I resign my pen,
Again, in mourning weeds behold!
My woe-fraught genius come again.

VI

To shield me from the gloomy scene,
To Cowper's patronage I fly;
Nor evil then shall intervene,
Nor heave the heart-extorted sigh.

VII

Merit yet never su'd in vain,
When Cowper could extend his aid,

159

Whose life is one continued train
Of virtues happily display'd.

VIII

Virtue! how seldom art thou known
In gorgeous palaces to dwell;
You oftener elevate your throne
Within the peasant's humble cell.

IX

Thither nor wealth nor titles roam,
To tempt the mind with gaudy glare,
For vice can never six her home
In poverty's rough frigid air.

X

Various the forms that you assume,
To regulate the active soul,
When the rais'd passions dare presume
The check of reason to controul.

160

XI

You teach us to avoid the shelves,
Where else our happiness were lost,
If we, abandon'd to ourselves,
On life's inconstant sea were tost.

XII

You o'er our acts discretion pour,
Adorn with unaffected grace;
As spring with a refreshing show'r
Adds gayer bloom to nature's face.

XIII

When thro' infirmity or fear,
The mind dejected falls from good,
Your presence but acknowledg'd near,
It's innate strength's again renew'd.

XIV

Or if the emanating mind
Superior soar to narrow rule,

161

You with the ties of reason bind
Ambition's slave, vain fortune's fool.

XV

So, pilots all their canvas spread,
To court the coy reluctant breeze,
When Thetis rears her dropping head,
And smiling, smooths the furrow'd seas.

XVI

Or if loud storms the sky assail,
And o'er the angry ocean sweep,
He quickly furls the flowing sail,
Or ploughs with naked poles the deep.

XVII

Virtue immortal and divine,
Surmounts the clouds of stormy fate;
Sickness and care and years combine,
In vain, against her happy mate.

162

XVIII

The God of War, with savage train,
Pours quick destruction o'er the field;
Wealth, honours, pow'r resist in vain,
Ev'n valour is compell'd to yield.

XIX

While virtue fix'd as either pole,
Indignant views the rapid race,
Above each shock, and thro' the whole
Maintains her own exalted place.

XX

Diogenes, in tub immur'd,
Laugh'd at the various turns of life,
By virtue of affliction cur'd,
Fenc'd from calamity and strife.

XXI

This clears the vitiated sight
From the false glare that shadows wealth,

163

Shews honours in a real light,
And gives the mind internal health.

XXII

Thus optic glasses help the eye,
By nature but imperfect made,
And seem to draw those objects nigh,
That in the vale of distance fade.

XXIII

What tho' a parent should neglect
Her duty, thro' some false pretence,
Shall grief for that my soul infect,
While I'm secure in innocence.

XXIV

Shall I complain if Fortune frown,
Curse the long day, or wish me dead,
When 'tis to ev'ry school-boy known,
Homer sung ballads for his bread.

164

XXV

In virtue I'll a refuge find,
A sure asylum from distress;
Virtue will nerve my ruffled mind,
And fate may frown, tho' not oppress.

XXVI

With Cowper dwells th' immortal maid,
That lifts her votary to the skies,
Her shield is probity display'd,
And peaceful happiness her prize.