University of Virginia Library

LINES TO A FRIEND, ON HIS BIRTH-DAY.

My Muse, lov'd friend, on this auspicious day,
Would take her lyre, and strike each grateful chord:
And while congratulations waft around,
Oh! let her guide thee to a theme of praise;
To ponder deep on that Eternal Power,
Which has fost'ring led thee to manhood's bloom.
Since life first diffus'd its beams o'er thy soul,
What mighty arm has watch'd o'er all thy ways,
And kept thy tott'ring steps from dang'rous falls?
Who, when in childhood, thou didst crad'ling lie,
Spreading soft tender arms in artless mood,
Gave gradual energy to thy young limbs,
Pouring in each day the sap nutritious?
Who form'd utterance for the simple tongue,
And bade it speak with unaffected grace,
The wants that feeble infancy attend?
'Twas God! who vast in awful splendour sits
Amid skies celestial sublimely shrin'd,
Yielding to man his kind unweari'd care.
Twice twelve years have now o'er thy head revolv'd,
The fleeting moments of reversing time
Have wing'd their swift interminable flight,
Whilst thou, frail man, remain'st a wond'rous proof
Of mercies, how inexhaustibly great!
Think, O think! that since this brief flight of time,
Millions beneath the tomb forgotten sleep!
Who, like thyself, once bloom'd unthinking, gay,
Flush'd with the gilded charms of op'ning views.
Then let that life, which has thus long been spar'd
The blighting touch of unrelenting Death,
To Him pour forth the ceaseless strains of praise,
That chastely hallow'd swell the grateful heart.
And thus, as years on years revolving roll,
And future natal days increase thy span,
The blessed peace of heav'n shall be thy lot;
Calmly shalt thou glide down the stream of life,
Thy conscience tranquil, and thy soul at ease.