 | Poems on several occasions |  |
585
TO CHRISTOPHER RHODES, ESQ.,
ON HIS BIRTH-DAY BEING TRANSFERRED FROM JUNE TO JULY.
I
When the late king demised, his sonSeem'd not in haste to take the crown.
The tenth of June was slunk away;
He wore it on the' eleventh day;
Though an apostle lost his place,
And George thus routed Barnabas.
II
Now loyal subjects, I maintain,Should imitate their sovereign.
Wherefore, whene'er it serves a turn,
We days and seasons may adjourn
For a whole month: 'tis in our power
As easily as for an hour.
III
Another plea, too, may arise,—That July next to August lies;
And Walpole, if we credit fame,
First into life in August came.
Your birth, then, stands, by this delay,
The nearer to sir Robert's day.
586
IV
But Time, for all our care and sleightTo slacken or to stay his flight,
With speed uninterrupted flies;
As one is born, another dies.
Virtue alone will ever stay;
But life “has wings, and will away.”
V
Age comes unheeded and unsought,Not hasten'd by a serious thought.
No! if it were, my friendly lays
Should never hint at fleeting days:
Unhurt, unsung, you should, for me,
Live to the year of jubilee.
VI
Live! for your spouse and daughter, live;That each protection may receive
From slight or wrong. Live, that your son,
By kindness and by spirit won,
The love you thought a mother's due,
Transported, may repay to you.
VII
Well may you spend the remnant-space,And wisely close the' allotted race!
Since happy, only happy, they
Who, fitted for the final day,
Secure their other birth can see,
Born to a bless'd eternity.
| Poems on several occasions | |