O HAPPY shades! to me unblest! Friendly to peace, but not to me! How ill the scene that offers rest, And heart that cannot rest, agree! This glassy stream, that spreading pine, Those alders quivering to the breeze, Might soothe a soul less hurt than mine, And please, if anything could please. But fixed unalterable Care Foregoes not what she feels within, Shows the same sadness everywhere, And slights the season and the scene. For all that pleased in wood or lawn, While Peace possessed these silent bowers, Her animating smile withdrawn, Has lost its beauties and its powers. The saint or moralist should tread This moss-grown alley, musing, slow; They seek like me the secret shade, But not, like me, to nourish woe! Me fruitful scenes and prospects waste Alike admonish not to roam; These tell me of enjoyments past, And those of sorrows yet to come. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DREAM-PEDLARY by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES LINES WRITTEN AT THE GRAVE OF ALEXANDER DUMAS by GWENDOLYN B. BENNETT COWLEY: THE GARDEN by ALEXANDER POPE THE REGULAR STORY by BERTON BRALEY THE LIVING LOST by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO THYRZA (2) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON JEREMIAD ON DANCING by P. C. CALHOUN MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE LORD HAYES: TO LORD AND LADY HAYES by THOMAS CAMPION |