 | The Olympiad |  |
SCENE V.
Amyntasalone.
Unthinking state of youth! when I behold thee
Expos'd to every giddy change of love,
I find new comfort in the calm of years.
'Tis ever grateful from the shore to view
The distant wreck; not that we take delight
In other's woe, but that the mind with pleasure
Contemplates ills from which ourselves are free.
Yet hold—and has not hoary age its storms?
Alas! too many; nor is even exempt
From dread of others: though the name may change,
Folly is folly still; each age is rul'd
By love or hate, by anger or desire.
We're vessels left to wander wide
Amidst a rough and stormy tide;
Our furious passions that prevail,
Are dangerous winds that swell the sail;
Our life's the sea on which we steer,
And pleasure is the rock we fear.
Expos'd to every giddy change of love,
I find new comfort in the calm of years.
'Tis ever grateful from the shore to view
The distant wreck; not that we take delight
In other's woe, but that the mind with pleasure
Contemplates ills from which ourselves are free.
Yet hold—and has not hoary age its storms?
Alas! too many; nor is even exempt
From dread of others: though the name may change,
Folly is folly still; each age is rul'd
By love or hate, by anger or desire.
114
Amidst a rough and stormy tide;
Our furious passions that prevail,
Are dangerous winds that swell the sail;
Our life's the sea on which we steer,
And pleasure is the rock we fear.
Though like a wary pilot now
Her watchful station Reason keeps;
Yet soon the waves may stronger grow,
And whirl us headlong o'er the deeps.
Her watchful station Reason keeps;
Yet soon the waves may stronger grow,
And whirl us headlong o'er the deeps.
[Exit.
| The Olympiad | |