EHOLD, my fair, where'er we rove,
What dreary profpects round us rife ;
The naked hill, the leaflefs grove,
The hoary ground, the frowning fkies!
Nor only through the wafted plain,
Stern Winter, is thy force confess'd;
Still wider spreads thy horrid reign,
I feel thy power ufurp my breaft.
Enlivening Hope and fond Defire
Refign the heart to Spleen and Care;
Scarce frighted Love maintains her fire,
And Rapture faddens to defpair.
In groundless hope, and caufelefs fear,
Unhappy man! behold thy doom,
Still changing with the changeful year,
The flave of funfhine and of gloom..
Tir'd with vain joys, and false alarms,
With mental and corporeal ftrife;
Snatch me, my STELLA, to thy arms,
And fcreen me from the ills of Life.
The fragrance of the flowery vales,
The murmurs of the chryftal rill,
The vocal grove, the verdant hill;
Not all their charms, tho' all unite,
Can touch my bosom with delight.
Not all the gems on India's fhore,
Not all Peru's unbounded store,
Not all the power, nor all the fame,
That heroes, kings, or poets claim;
Nor knowledge which the learn❜d approve,
To form one with my foul can move.
Yet Nature's charms allure my eyes,
And knowledge, wealth, and fame I prize;
Fame, wealth, and knowledge I obtain,
Nor feek I Nature's charms in vain ;
In lovely STELLA all combine,
And, lovely STELLA! thou art mine.
VENING now, from purple wings,
Sheds the grateful gifts fhe brings;
Brilliant drops bedeck the mead,
Cooling breezes shake the reed;
Shake the reed, and curl the stream
Silver'd o'er with Cynthia's beam ;
Near the checquer'd, lonely grove,
Hears and keeps thy fecrets, Love.
STELLA, thither let us stray!
Lightly o'er the dewy way,
Phoebus drives his burning car,
Hence, my lovely STELLA, far ;
In his ftead, the Queen of Night
Round us pours a lambent light;
Light, that ferves but juft to fhew
Breafts that beat, and cheeks that glow;
Let us now, in whisper'd joy,
Evening's filent hours employ,
Silence best, and conscious shades
Please the hearts that Love invades.
Other pleasures give them pain,
Lovers all but Love difdain.
O more thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With Avarice painful vigils keep,
Still unenjoy'd the prefent ftore,
Still endless fighs are breath'd for more.
O quit the shadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase Heaven has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can Love be bought with gold?
Are Friendship's pleafures to be fold?
No-all that's worth a wish, a thought,
Fair Virtue gives, unbrib'd, unbought,
Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind,
Let nobler views engage thy mind.
With Science tread the wonderous way,
Or learn the Mufe's moral lay;
In focial hours indulge thy foul,
Where Mirth and Temperance mix the bowl;
To virtuous Love refign thy breaft,
And be by bleffing Beauty bleft.
Thus taste the feast by Nature spread,
Ere Youth, and all its joys are fled;
Come, tafte with me the balm of live,
Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife.
I boast, whate'er for man was meant,
In health, and STELLA, and content;
And fcorn! oh! let that fcorn be thine!
Mere things of clay, that dig the mine.
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