The Poetical Works of The Rev. Samuel Bishop ... To Which are Prefixed, Memoirs of the Life of the Author By the Rev. Thomas Clare |
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 | The Poetical Works of The Rev. Samuel Bishop |  |
67
TO THE SAME,
ON ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY OF THE SAME DAY. WITH A POCKET-BOOK.
Another year's demands I pay;—
Another Gift; another Lay;
A Gift, a Lay, reserv'd to adorn
The twofold triumph of the Morn,
Which to the world, and me, benign,
First gave you Birth; then made you mine:
A Gift, a Lay, which but reveal,
This moment, what in all I feel;
Save that each joy, from time that springs,
More length of sweet remembrance brings.
Then, scorn not on these toys to look,
So mean a Verse, so blank a Book;
One soft sensation if it raise,
That Verse will earn me more than praise:
To fill that Book, if you think good,
'Twill show forthwith, (what no Verse cou'd,)
How just, how ample action's scale,
When powers of Mind, like Yours, prevail.
Another Gift; another Lay;
A Gift, a Lay, reserv'd to adorn
The twofold triumph of the Morn,
Which to the world, and me, benign,
First gave you Birth; then made you mine:
A Gift, a Lay, which but reveal,
This moment, what in all I feel;
Save that each joy, from time that springs,
More length of sweet remembrance brings.
68
So mean a Verse, so blank a Book;
One soft sensation if it raise,
That Verse will earn me more than praise:
To fill that Book, if you think good,
'Twill show forthwith, (what no Verse cou'd,)
How just, how ample action's scale,
When powers of Mind, like Yours, prevail.
Yet while successive pages bear
Your comprehensive range of care,
Each hint, from sounder Sense that flows,
Each impulse friendlier Feeling knows,
Each purpose of superior strain,
Maternal, conjugal, humane,
To my sole claim one space assign,
Where both our signatures may join!—
—Where witness'd, in the name you shar'd,
When mutual troth our vows declar'd,
Frank as the heart, that gave your hand,
A sanction of my Love may stand;
Of Love, which never yet, exprest
A preference, Truth could not attest;
Nor e'er more cordial comfort felt,
Than what your kind Complacence dealt;
Nor ever in idea rose
Above such Worth, as you disclose!
—Where my name too, next yours display'd,
May own that Love, with Love repaid;
May boast a Wife, my favourite theme,
As well from justice, as esteem;
May vouch, (what life shall ne'er forget,)
Affectionate approbation's debt;
And bind me, ev'n with death in view,
To fix my dearest thought on You!
While the last gasp tir'd nature draws,
To sigh “Farewell!” with, breath's Applause.
Your comprehensive range of care,
Each hint, from sounder Sense that flows,
Each impulse friendlier Feeling knows,
Each purpose of superior strain,
Maternal, conjugal, humane,
To my sole claim one space assign,
Where both our signatures may join!—
—Where witness'd, in the name you shar'd,
When mutual troth our vows declar'd,
69
A sanction of my Love may stand;
Of Love, which never yet, exprest
A preference, Truth could not attest;
Nor e'er more cordial comfort felt,
Than what your kind Complacence dealt;
Nor ever in idea rose
Above such Worth, as you disclose!
—Where my name too, next yours display'd,
May own that Love, with Love repaid;
May boast a Wife, my favourite theme,
As well from justice, as esteem;
May vouch, (what life shall ne'er forget,)
Affectionate approbation's debt;
And bind me, ev'n with death in view,
To fix my dearest thought on You!
While the last gasp tir'd nature draws,
To sigh “Farewell!” with, breath's Applause.
| The Poetical Works of The Rev. Samuel Bishop | |