FRAGMENT XXIV.
[“Vivons pour nous . . . . .]
To him who said, “You live only for the World.”
“Vivons pour nous . . . . .
Que l'amitie qui nous unie
Nous tiens lieu du monde.”
Voltaire.
I
Oh! no—I live not for the throng
Thou seest me mingle oft among,
By fashion driven.
Yet one may snatch in this same world
Of noise and din, where one is hurl'd,
Some glimpse of heaven!
II
When gossip murmurs rise around,
And all is empty shew and sound,
Or vulgar folly,
How sweet! to give wild fancy play,
Or bend to thy dissolving sway,
Soft melancholy.
III
When silly beaux around one flutter,
And silly belles gay nonsense utter,
How sweet to steal
To some lone corner (quite perdue)
And with the dear elected few
Converse and feel!
IV
When forced for tasteless crowds to sing,
Or listless sweep the trembling string,
Say, when we meet
The eye whose beam alone inspires,
And wakes the warm soul's latent fires,
Is it not sweet?
V
Yes, yes, the dearest bliss of any
Is that which midst the blissless many
So oft we stole:
Thou know'st 'twas midst much cold parade
And idle crowds, we each betray'd
To each—a soul.
