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

Wild with his Grief, young Colin fled
His Flocks and Plains, and sought a Grove,
Where cover'd with a gloomy shade,
He thus bemoan'd his hapless Love:
While Rocks stood round and catch'd his cries,
And Winds flew by, and sigh'd his Sighs.

II

A Tyrant rules within thy Mind,
Thy Heart's as hard as flinty Stone,

104

More cruel than mad Storms of Wind,
And Rage it self is sooner won:
The swelling Billows on the Sea,
Are gentle Things, compar'd with thee.

III

In the bleak Regions of the Pole,
Dread Hills of Snow perpetual rise,
And Frost forbids the Streams to roll,
And Seas congeal in Alps of Ice:
Not all that frigid Zone can prove,
A scene so cold as Silvia's Love.

IV

The Bees pursue the yellow Thyme,
And warbling Birds rejoyce in May;
Round Oaks, the clasping Ivies twine,
And youthful Lambs enjoy their play;
Each Creature has its Sport and Joy,
And nothing's always curs'd but I.

V

Clouds will not always hide the Skie,
Nor Show'rs forever swell the Streams;

105

For Vapours vanish as they fly,
Serene succeeds, and genial Gleams,
All human Ills a respite find,
And nought but Silvia's still unkind.

VI

Time stops not in its Course to flow,
But runs a-round as roll the Spheres;
Brings Winters and our Summers too,
And Days and Nights compleat the Years:
But Time can ne'er by all his Art,
Dissolve my Silvia's marble Heart.

VII

Nor Wit, nor Verse, avail me more,
They but augment and swell my Fire;
I robb'd the Muse and spent her Store,
I struck the Strings, and smote the Lyre:
But ah! in Vain I found all these,
As Pray'rs to Winds, or Sighs to Seas.

VIII

Then farewel Wit and Verse, no more
Shall you delude my fond Desire;

106

And farewel Muse with all thy store,
Be broke the Strings, be dumb the Lyre:
To ev'ry Art of Love adieu,
And to the Charms of Silvia too.