 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
21
ODE TO CONTENTMENT.
Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine musas
Ducit, & immemores non sinit esse sui.
Ducit, & immemores non sinit esse sui.
Divine Contentment! Cottage-born,
Do thou inspire my easy lay;
Let no vain wish, no thought forlorn,
Disturb the calm, the peaceful Day.
Forget'st thou when we wander'd o'er
The sylvan Bela's sedgy shore,
Or rang'd the woodland wilds along?
How oft on Herclay's mountains high,
We've met the morning's purple eye,
Delay'd by many a Song.
Do thou inspire my easy lay;
Let no vain wish, no thought forlorn,
Disturb the calm, the peaceful Day.
Forget'st thou when we wander'd o'er
The sylvan Bela's sedgy shore,
Or rang'd the woodland wilds along?
22
We've met the morning's purple eye,
Delay'd by many a Song.
From these delights by Fortune led,
To busy Life and Crowds confin'd;
At once each golden pleasure fled;
For Thou, lov'd Nymph, was left behind.
Yet cou'd these Eyes once more survey
Thy comely Form in mantle grey,
Thy polish'd brow, thy peaceful eye;
With Thee, where e'er Thou deign'st to dwell,
In Village-Cot, or Hermit's Cell,
With Thee I'd live and die.
To busy Life and Crowds confin'd;
At once each golden pleasure fled;
For Thou, lov'd Nymph, was left behind.
Yet cou'd these Eyes once more survey
Thy comely Form in mantle grey,
Thy polish'd brow, thy peaceful eye;
With Thee, where e'er Thou deign'st to dwell,
In Village-Cot, or Hermit's Cell,
With Thee I'd live and die.
Ah where is now each Image gay,
The Hand of Fairy Fancy wove,
Of painted Springs, Elysian day,
The sparkling Rill, the bloomy Grove?
Cease, cruel Mem'ry! think no more
Of Scenes, which lost I now deplore,
Abandon'd wild to care and woe;
With loss of Eden's peaceful side,
Eternal Grief and Pain betide
The vain Desire to know!
The Hand of Fairy Fancy wove,
Of painted Springs, Elysian day,
The sparkling Rill, the bloomy Grove?
23
Of Scenes, which lost I now deplore,
Abandon'd wild to care and woe;
With loss of Eden's peaceful side,
Eternal Grief and Pain betide
The vain Desire to know!
| Poems on Several Occasions | |