And should my future lot be cast With much resemblance of the past, W. COWPER. 163 THE DYING MAN IN HIS GARDEN 50 Why, Damon, with the forward day 5 What do thy noonday walks avail, To clear the leaf, and pick the snail 10 Thou and the worm are brother-kind, As low, as earthy, and as blind. Vain wretch! canst thou expect to see The downy peach make court to thee? 15 The bean-flower's deep-embosom'd sweet Thy narrow pride, thy fancied green G. SEWELL 20 164 TO-MORROW In the downhill of life, when I find I'm declining, May my lot no less fortunate be Than a snug elbow-chair can afford for reclining, And a cot that o'erlooks the wide sea; With an ambling pad-pony to pace o'er the lawn, While I carol away idle sorrow, And blithe as the lark that each day hails the dawn Look forward with hope for to-morrow. With a porch at my door, both for shelter and shade too, As the sunshine or rain may prevail; 10 And a small spot of ground for the use of the spade too, With a barn for the use of the flail : A cow for my dairy, a dog for my game, And a purse when a friend wants to borrow; I'll envy no nabob his riches or fame, Nor what honours await him to-morrow. 15 From the bleak northern blast may my cot be completely Secured by a neighbouring hill; And at night may repose steal upon me more sweetly By the sound of a murmuring rill : 20 And while peace and plenty I find at my board, With a heart free from sickness and sorrow, With my friends may I share what to-day may afford, And let them spread the table to-morrow. 24 And when I at last must throw off this frail covering Which I've worn for three-score years and ten, On the brink of the grave I'll not seek to keep hovering, Nor my thread wish to spin o'er again : But my face in the glass I'll serenely survey, 29 And with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow; As this old worn-out stuff, which is threadbare to-day, May become everlasting to-morrow. 165 J. COLLINS. Life! I know not what thou art, Life! we've been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; -Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time; 5 10 Say not Good Night, but in some brighter clime Bid me Good Morning. A. L. BARBAULD. THE GOLDEN TREASURY BOOK FOURTH 166 ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold Oft of one wide expanse had I been told 5 10 That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne ; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold : Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific-and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmiseSilent, upon a peak in Darien. J. KEATS. 167 133 ODE ON THE POETS Bards of Passion and of Mirth Yes, and those of heaven commune Brows'd by none but Dian's fawns ; Thus ye live on high, and then On the earth ye live again; 5 10 15 20 And the souls ye left behind you 25 Here, your earth-born souls still speak 30 Of their sorrows and delights; Of their passions and their spites; Of their glory and their shame ; What doth strengthen and what maim 35 Wisdom, though fled far away. Bards of Passion and of Mirth Ye have left your souls on earth! Ye have souls in heaven too, Double-lived in regions new! J. KEATS. 40 |