And yet endure the various ills of life,
And dark vicissitudes !-Soon, I hope, I feel,
And am assur'd, that I shall lay my head,
My weary aching head, on its last rest,
And on my lowly bed the grass-green sod
Will flourish sweetly. And then they will weep
That one so young, and what they're pleas'd to call
So beautiful, should die so soon-And tell
How painful disappointment's canker'd fang
Wither'd the rose upon my maiden cheek.
Oh, foolish ones! why, I shall sleep so sweetly,
Laid in my darksome grave, that they themselves
Might envy me my rest!-And as for them,
Who, on the score of former intimacy,
May thus remembrance me-they must themselves Successive fall.
(When out-a-doors the biting frost congeals,
And shrill the skater's irons on the pool
Ring loud, as by the moonlight he performs
His graceful evolutions) they not long
Shall sit and chat of older times, and feats
Of early youth, but silent, one by one,
Shall drop into their shrouds. Some, in their age,
Ripe for the sickle; others young, like me,
And falling green beneath th' untimely stroke.
Thus, in short time, in the church-yard forlorn,
Where I shall lie, my friends will lay them down,
And dwell with me, a happy family.
And oh, thou cruel, yet beloved youth,
That thus, with such a melancholy grace,
Thou dost pursue thy solitary course!
Has thy Endymion, smooth-faced boy, forsook
Thy widow'd breast-on which the spoiler oft
Has nestled fondly, while the silver clouds
Fantastic pillow'd thee, and the dim night,
Obsequious to thy will, encurtain'd round
With its thick fringe thy couch ?—Wan traveller,
How like thy fate to mine !-Yet I have still
One heavenly hope remaining, which thou lack'st;
My woes will soon be buried in the grave
Of kind forgetfulness :-my journey here,
Though it be darksome, joyless, and forlorn,
Is yet but short, and soon my weary feet
Will greet the peaceful inn of lasting rest.
But thou, unhappy Queen! art doom'd to trace
Thy lonely walk in the drear realms of night,
While many a lagging age shall sweep beneath
The leaden pinions of unshaken time;
Though not a hope shall spread its glittering hue
To cheat thy steps along the weary way.
O that the sum of human happiness
Should be so trifling, and so frail withal,
That when possess'd, it is but lessen'd grief;
And even then there's scarce a sudden gust
That blows across the dismal waste of life,
But bears it from the view.-O! who would shua
The hour that cuts from earth, and fear to press
The calm and peaceful pillows of the grave,
I never, either now, or long since,
Have heard of such a pièce of nonsense;
That one who learning's joys hath felt,
And at the Muse's altar knelt,
Should leave a life of sacred leisure,
To taste the accumulating pleasure;
And, metamorphos'd to an alley duck,
Grovel in loads of kindred muck.
Oh! 'tis beyond my comprehension!
A courtier throwing up his pension,-
A lawyer working without a fee,—
A parson giving charity,-
A truly pious methodist preacher,—
Are not, egad, so out of nature.
Had nature made thee half a fool,
But given thee wit to keep a school,
I had not star'd at thy backsliding;
But when thy wit I can confide in,
When well I know thy just pretence
To solid and exalted sense;
When well I know that on thy head
Philosophy her lights hath shed,
I stand aghast! thy virtues sum too,
And wonder what this world will come to!
Yet, whence this strain? shall I repine
That thou alone dost singly shine?
Shall I lament that thou alone,
Of men of parts, hast prudence known?
Who now hast left me hopeless here to mourn,
Do thou but shed one tear upon my corse,
And say that I was gentle, and deserv'd
A better lover, and I shall forgive
All, all thy wrongs;-and then do thou forget
The hapless Margaret, and be as blest
As wish can make thee-Laugh, and play, and sing,
With thy dear choice, and never think of me.
Yet hist, I hear a step.-In this dark wood
WRITTEN AT A VERY EARLY AGE.
I've read, my friend, of Dioclesian,
And many other noble Grecian,
Who wealth and palaces resign'd,
In cots the joys of peace to find;
Maximian's meal of turnip-tops,
(Disgusting food to dainty chops)
I've also read of, without wonder;
But such a curs'd egregious blunder,
As that a man, of wit and sense,
Should leave his books to hoard up pence,
Forsake the lov'd Aonian maids,
For all the petty tricks of trades,
But, ah! the soothing scene is o'er!
On middle flight we cease to soar,
For now the Muse assumes a bolder sweep,
Strikes on the lyric string her sorrows deep,
In strains unheard before.
Now, now the rising fire thrills high,
Now, now to heav'n's high realms we fly,
And every throne explore ;
The soul entranc'd, on mighty wings,
With all the poet's heat up springs,
And loses earthly woes;
Till all alarmed at the giddy height,
The Muse descends on gentler flight,
And lulls the wearied soul to soft repose.
WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN.
ILL-FATED maid, in whose unhappy train Chill poverty and misery are seen,
Anguish and discontent, the unhappy bane Of life, and blackener of each brighter scene. Why to thy votaries dost thou give to feel So keenly all the scorns-the jeers of life? Why not endow them to endure the strife With apathy's invulnerable steel,
Or self-content and ease, each torturing wound to heal?
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