 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
1
VERSES PRESENTED TO CLORINDA,
ON Her BIRTH-DAY.
Hail sacred morning, whose auspicious light
Unveil'd Clorinda to the ravish'd sight!
Sure at her birth the Gods conspir'd above
To form a rival to the Queen of love;
Then the fair charmer from the crystal skies
Was sent to make this lower world her prize.
Unveil'd Clorinda to the ravish'd sight!
Sure at her birth the Gods conspir'd above
To form a rival to the Queen of love;
Then the fair charmer from the crystal skies
Was sent to make this lower world her prize.
2
When first I felt the rapture of the nine,
My verse was offer'd incense at your shrine;
Before the fickle world that homage paid,
Or you a Goddess by their worship made;
And now maturer reason must approve
The pleasing object of my former love.
Bless'd in enjoyment may you ever live
Of all that you can wish, or Heaven can give!
May each revolving season glide along
Replete with riches of the poet's song!
May no fierce passions in your bosom move,
And every gay desire refine to love:
But when your sandy glass of time is run,
And you must fall, like those you have undone;
May conscious virtue shine with equal pow'r
To brave the tyrant in your latest hour:
And after death (for fairest nymphs must die)
Waft the bright spirit to your kindred sky.
My verse was offer'd incense at your shrine;
Before the fickle world that homage paid,
Or you a Goddess by their worship made;
And now maturer reason must approve
The pleasing object of my former love.
Bless'd in enjoyment may you ever live
Of all that you can wish, or Heaven can give!
May each revolving season glide along
Replete with riches of the poet's song!
May no fierce passions in your bosom move,
And every gay desire refine to love:
But when your sandy glass of time is run,
And you must fall, like those you have undone;
May conscious virtue shine with equal pow'r
To brave the tyrant in your latest hour:
3
Waft the bright spirit to your kindred sky.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |