Ah, thankless! canst thou envy him who gains The Stoic's cold and indurate repose? Thou! with thy lively sense of bliss and woes! -- From a false balance of life's joys and pains Thou deem'st him happy. -- Placed 'mid fair domains, Where full the river down the valley flows, As wisely might'st thou with thy home had rose On the parched surface of unwatered plains, For that, when long the heavy rain descends, Bursts over guardian banks their whelming tide! -- Seldom the wild and wasteful flood extends, But, spreading plenty, verdure, beauty wide, The cool translucent stream perpetual bends, And laughs the vale as the bright waters glide. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUGH STUART BOYD: LEGACIES by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE LORDS' MASQUE: FIRST DANCE by THOMAS CAMPION ILLUSION by ETHELYN HARDESTY CLEAVER TO MRS. K.T (WHO ASKED HIM WHY HE WAS DUMB) by JOHN CLEVELAND NIGHT QUATRAINS by CHARLES COTTON THE COQUETTE by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON BYE, BABY, NIGHT IS COME by MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE TO THE MEMORY OF THE INCOMPARABLE ORINDA; PINDARIC ODE by THOMAS FLATMAN |