 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
195
SONG.
[No nymph that trips the verdant plains]
I
No nymph that trips the verdant plains,With Sally can compare;
She wins the hearts of all the swains,
And rivals all the fair.
The beams of sol delight and chear,
While summer seasons roll;
But Sally's smiles can all the year
Give summer to the soul.
II
When from the east the morning rayIllumes the world below,
Her presence bids the god of day
With emulation glow:
Fresh beauties deck the painted ground;
Birds sweeter notes prepare;
The playful lambkins skip around,
And hail the sister fair.
196
III
The lark but strains his liquid throat,To bid the maid rejoice;
And mimics, while he swells the note,
The sweetness of her voice:
The fanning zephyrs round her play,
While Flora sheds perfume;
And ev'ry flow'ret seems to say,
I but for Sally bloom.
IV
The am'rous youths her charms proclaim;From morn to eve their tale;
Her beauty and unspotted fame,
Make vocal ev'ry vale.
The stream, meand'ring through the mead,
Her echo'd name conveys;
And ev'ry voice, and ev'ry reed,
Is tun'd to Sally's praise.
197
V
No more shall blithsome lass and swain,To mirthful wake resort;
Nor ev'ry may-morn on the plain
Advance in rural sport:
No more shall gush the gurgling rill,
Nor music wake the grove;
Nor flocks look snow-like on the hill,
When I forget to love.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |