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314
TO MY WIFE.
How, as I grace with thee my opening lay,How, with what language, Mary! may I greet
Thy matron ear, that Truth's pure utterance meet
Sound not like flattery? In life's youthful day,
When to thy charms and virgin beauty bright,
I tun'd my numbers, Hope, enchantress fair,
Trick'd a gay world with colours steep'd in air,
And suns that never set in envious night.
Ah! since that joyous prime, beloved Wife!
Years, mix'd of good and ill, have o'er us pass'd:
And I have seen, at times, thy smile o'ercast
With sadness. Not the less my lot of life
With thee has been most blissful—heav'nly Peace,
Thy guardian angel, Mary! has beguil'd
My woe, and sooth'd my wayward fancy wild.
Nor shall its soothing influence ever cease,
Thou present, weal or woe, as may, betide!—
Hail, Wife, and Mother, lov'd beyond the Bride.
Fair Mead Lodge, Epping Forest,
July 17, 1806.
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