 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
29
TO CHARLES LAMB,
ON HIS POEM CALLED “LEISURE.”
Leisure is Wisdom's nurse and Virtue's child;Her home she buildeth amid sylvan nooks,
By hedgerow paths, or 'mid the leafy brooks
Wandereth at will,—hymning her wood-notes wild.
Within her cheerful memory she hath pil'd
Rich thoughts, that tell of pictures, and of books!
And absent friends—with calm and beautiful looks,
Of worldly cares she walketh undefil'd;
In cities too, or 'mid suburban shade;
At mask, or theatre, with flowers and wine,
Holding her lyre, moveth this gentle maid;
Nor seldom seen, when evening embers shine
On the cheerful hearth—in musing slumber laid;
Such was sweet Shakespeare's friend, and such is thine.
| Miscellaneous Poems | |