damaík cheeks, and radiant eyes, Let other poets tell;
Within the bofom of the fair
Superior beauties dwell,
There all the fprightly pow'rs of wit
In blythe affemblage play,
There ev'ry focial virtue fheds
Its intellectual ray.
But as the fun's refulgent light
Heav'n's wide expanfe refines;
With fov'reign luftre through the foul
Celestial sweetness fhines.
This mental beam dilates the heart,
And fparkles in the face;
It harmonizes every thought,
And heightens every grace.
One glimpfe can foothe the troubled breast,
The heaving figh restrain?
Can make the bed of ficknefs pleafe,
And ftop the fenfe of pain.
Its power can charm the favage heart,
The tyrant's pity move:
To fmiles convert the wildeft rage,
And melt the foul to love.
When sweetness beams upon the throne
In majesty benign,
The awful fplendours of a crown
With milder luftre fhine..
In feenes of poverty and woe,
Where melancholy dwells,
The influence of this living ray
The dreary gloom difpels :
Thus when the blooming fpring returns
To cheer the mournful plains,
Through earth and air, with genial warmth,
Ethereal mildnefs reigns.
Beneath its bright, aufpicious beams
No boisterous paffions rife;
Morofenefs quits the peaceful scene,
And baleful Difcord flies.
A thonfand nameless beauties fpring,
A thousand virtues glow;
A fmiling train of joys appear,
And endless bleffings flow.
Unbounded Charity difplays
Her fympathizing charms;
And friendship's pure feraphic flame
The gen'rous bofom warms.
Almighty Love exerts his power 419:39
And fpreads with fecret art
A foft fenfation through the frame,
A triumph through the heart.
Nor fhall the forms of age which clond
Each gleam of fenfual joy,
And blaft the gaudy flower's pride,
These bleft effects destroy,
When that fair form fhall fmk in years,
And all thofe graces fly;
The beauty of thy heavenly mind
Shall length of days defy.
HAPPY they the happieft of their kind!
Whom gentler ftars unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 'Tis not the coarfer tie of human laws, Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, That binds their peace, but harmony itfelf, Attuning all their paffions into loves
exerts her fofteft power,
Perfect esteem, enliven'd by defire
Ineffable, and fympathy of foul;
Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, With boundless confidence: for nought but love Can answer love, and render blifs fecure.
What is the world to them,
Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all!
Who in each other clafp whatever fair
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can with;
Something than beauty dearer, fhould they look,
Or on the mind, or mind-illumin'd face;
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love,
The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven?
Meantime a smiling offspring rifes round,
And mingles both their graces. By degrees
The human bloffom blows; and every day,
Soft as it rolls along, fhews fome new charm,
The father's luftre and the mother's bloom.
Then infant reafon grows apace, and calls
For the kind hand of an affiduous care.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young.i idea how to fhoot,
Το pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,
To breathe th' enlivening fpirit, and to fix
The generous purpofe in the glowing breaft.
Oh, fpeak the joy! ye whom the fudden tear
Surprises often, while you look around,
And nothing strikes your eyes but fights of blifs,
All various nature preffing on the heart:
An elegant fufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, ufeful fife, -
Progreffive virtue, and approving Heaven.
These are the matchlefs joys of virtuous love;
And thus their moments fly. The Sealbhs thus,
As ceafelefs round a jarring world they roll, a.
Still find them happy; and confenting Spring
Sheds her own rofy garland on their heads:
'Till evening comes at laft, ferene and mild,
When, after the long vernal day of life,
Enamour'd more, as more remembrance fwells
With niany a proof of recollected love,
Together down they fink in focial fleep;
Together freed, their gentle fpirits flytt
To fcenes where love and blifs immortal reign.
Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade? *Tis the but why that bleeding bofom gor'd?rou Why dimly gleams the visionary sword ?. žodi una
|