University of Virginia Library

Pleasure

Goddess of pleasure, where thy golden car?
Rides it on zephyrs through the unclouded sky?
Or mov'st thou with silken sails and silver
Oars down the smooth river, sported around
By daughters of the sea, fann'd by the wings
Of smiling loves; or on its shady bank
Do'st thou repose, lull'd by distant music
Stealing soft o'er its calm bosom? or sit'st
Thou in more cool retreat, some grotto dark
Of living marble hewn by nature's hand,
Catching the sound of mighty water-fall
Borne on the wind? Though 'neath unclouded skies
Thy votaries seek thee, where the zephyrs sport
Around, and scatter odors from their wings;
And though down the stream of life, with silken
Sails wafted by prosperous winds, they glide;
Thee seeking in ever-varied worldly
Joys; and though from busy scenes of life
Retir'd, some on the shady bank have woo'd thee;
Or in grotto's dark recess, deluded;
How oft hast thou, like the false flickering
Light, which leads the weary trav'ller astray,
Danc'd round them in thy golden car, &, when
They sought to enter, fled their eager grasp!
Ask him, who, led astray o'er treach'rous bogs,
Is wand'ring; ask of him where shines the light,
Which that he follows seems:—“At home,” he says.
There, pleasure, rest thy golden car. The mind
Is its own home. In fair and stormy sky
Alike thou dwell'st, thy bark alike is steer'd
Down the calm stream, and through the raging sea.
It is the mind, communing with itself,
That cast a sunshine on the paths of life;
That midst adversity's dark hour can see
Above a clear unclouded sky; that rides
As undisturb'd upon the troubl'd waves
Of active life, as in the calm haven
Of retirement. Who seeks thee not within,
In vain he woos thee on the shady bank;
In vain he courts thee in the grotto's dark
Recess. Though burst his stores with India's rich
Produce, yet still he will be poor; nations
May bow beneath his sway, yet weaker he
Shall be than those who call him master. Let
His table groan, and let his cup o'erflow;
If he neglects the banquet of the mind,
Drinks not from out that inward fount, which he
Who drinks of never thirsts, still he shall live
In want, in want shall die.