 | My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays |  |
194
STANZAS.
WRITTEN ON A SOCIAL VISIT TO THE RETIRED PATRIOT, JOHN ADAMS, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Blest Patriot! in life's evening hour,
Seen like the sacred sun's decline,
Sublime, as when with sovereign power,
The noon of glorious deeds was thine.
Seen like the sacred sun's decline,
Sublime, as when with sovereign power,
The noon of glorious deeds was thine.
Still bless'd amid thy graced retreat,
To win the speaking glance of praise,
To feel that love with homage sweet,
The tribute of thy virtue pays.
To win the speaking glance of praise,
To feel that love with homage sweet,
The tribute of thy virtue pays.
Bless'd, that to wound thy wearied ear,
No flatterer comes, with traitor mind,
But honour, as thy soul sincere,
And friendship, like thine accent kind.
No flatterer comes, with traitor mind,
But honour, as thy soul sincere,
And friendship, like thine accent kind.
How bless'd o'er ocean's yielding tides,
Thy nation's victor-flag to see,
Exulting—as her navy rides,
To claim the glorious birth from thee.
Thy nation's victor-flag to see,
Exulting—as her navy rides,
To claim the glorious birth from thee.
And blest that truths unerring page,
Shall ALL thy great achievements give,
Memorials of a nobler age,
In IMMORTALITY to live.
Shall ALL thy great achievements give,
Memorials of a nobler age,
In IMMORTALITY to live.
| My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays | |