University of Virginia Library

ANACREONTICS TO MY WIFE.

I.

[O, to see my Nutty smiling]

O, to see my Nutty smiling,
Time with amorous talk beguiling,
Love her every action gracing,
Arms still open for embracing,
Looks to mutual bliss inviting,
Eyes delighted and delighting,
Spotless innocence preventing
After-grief and sad repenting;
Neither doubting, both believing,
Transport causing and receiving;
Both with equal ardour moving,
Dearly loved and truly loving!
Long may both enjoy the pleasure
Without guilt and without measure!

II.

[Ere I found you fair and good]

Ere I found you fair and good;
Ere the nut-brown maid I view'd;
Sunny walks and spreading trees,
Sports and theatres, could please.
Soon as e'er my Love was known,
All I left for her alone.
Golden hours glide smiling on,
Golden all without the sun;
Since I, happy all the while,
Hear you talk, and see you smile.
Sunny meads and living trees,
Sports and theatres, displease;
Learning's self and friends, adieu!
Joys are centred now in you.
Yet by learning shall I prove
Partly worthy of your love.
Hope so glorious will despise
Aching head and watering eyes:
Hope so glorious will allay
Midnight watch and toil of day.
Books for you aside were thrown,
Now resumed for you alone.

III.

[Meanest rhymer that I am]

Meanest rhymer that I am,
Scoff'd and branded for the name;
Still I write, if you approve;
Glory shall submit to love.
Were I fill'd with poet's fire,
Sweet as gay Anacreon's lyre,
Verse if you should disapprove,
Glory should submit to love.
Truth you read without disguise;
Stranger I to sugar'd lies,
Faithless, fawning flatteries!
Love like mine will still compose
Verse as faithful as my prose.
Fabling poetry shall ne'er
Paint you lovelier than you are.
Talk of goddesses who will,
Still you're dear, but woman still.
Be but what you're now, I'll ne'er
Wish you lovelier than you are.

IV.

[Dear, and ever dear, whom I]

Dear, and ever dear, whom I
Wooed and won without a lie,
Let my growing passion prove
Still more pleasing to my Love.
Verses smiling have you view'd,
Graced alone with gratitude:
Still they're grateful : may they prove
Still more pleasing to my Love!
Here no witty falsehood shines;
Here no tinsel gilds the lines.
This suffices, if they prove
Full of truth and full of love!
Truth can never need a lie:
Truth is sense and poetry.
Truth alone could Nutty move:
Truth is happiness and love.
May our age be as our youth,
Full of love, and full of truth!
One the other never grieving,
Undeceived and undeceiving;
Happy thou, transported I;
Faithful, blest, without a lie!

V.

[My dear, whatever you believe]

My dear, whatever you believe,
To me 'tis natural to grieve,
When round about my eyes I throw,
And view my country's present woe,
And see—or think, at least, I see—
A worse, far worse futurity.
I inly mourn, but quickly try
To mingle laughter with a sigh.
This thought, perhaps, some satire draws
On villains who our ruin cause;
That patriots from continued grief
May find in mirth a short relief.
Thus laudanum will ease insure,
And dead the pain it cannot cure.
But if the respite others find
Gives greater torment to your mind,
For ever, if disliked by you,
To pleasantry in verse adieu!
Henceforth then, to my dying day,
Shall I compose the future lay
Merry or melancholy? Say.