Of womanhood, fit pupils in the school
Of card-devoted time, and, night by night, Plac'd at some vacant corner of the board, Learn ev'ry trick, and soon play all the game. But truce with censure. Roving as I rove, Where shall I find an end, or how proceed? As he that travels far oft turns aside
To view some rugged rock or mould'ring tow'r, Which, seen, delights him not; then, coming home, Describes and prints it, that the world may know How far he went for what was nothing worth; So I, with brush in hand and pallet spread, With colours mix'd for a far diff'rent use, Paint cards and dolls, and ev'ry idle thing That fancy finds in her excursive flights.
Come, Ev'ning, once again, season of peace; Return, sweet Ev'ning, and continue long! Methinks I see thee in the streaky west,
With matron-step flow-moving, while the night
Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employ'd
In letting fall the curtain of repose
On bird and beast, the other charg'd for man With sweet oblivion of the cares of day: Not sumptuously adorn'd, nor needing aid, Like homely featur'd night, of clust'ring gems; A star or two, just twinkling on thy brow, Suffices thee; save that the moon is thine No less than her's, not worn indeed on high With ostentatious pageantry, but set
With modest grandeur in thy purple zone, Resplendent less, but of an ampler round. Come then, and thou shalt find thy vot'ry calm, Or make me so. Composure is thy gift: And, whether I devote thy gentle hours To books, to music, or the poet's toil; To weaving nets for bird-alluring fruit ; Or twining silken threads round iv'ry reels, When they command whom man was born to please; I slight thee not, but make thee welcome still.
Just when our drawing-rooms begin to blaze With lights, by clear reflection multiplied
From many a mirror, in which he of Gath,
Goliath, might have seen his giant bulk
Whole, without stooping, tow'ring crest and all, My pleasures, too, begin. But me, perhaps,
The glowing hearth may satisfy awhile With faint illumination, that uplifts
The shadow to the ceiling, there by fits Dancing uncouthly to the quiv'ring flame. Not undelightful is an hour to me
So spent in parlour twilight: such a gloom Suits well the thoughtful or unthinking mind, The mind contemplative, with some new theme Pregnant, or indispos'd alike to all.
Laugh ye, who boast your more mercurial pow'rs, That never feel a stupor, know no pause, Nor need one; I am conscious, and confess, Fearless, a soul that does not always think. Me oft has fancy, ludicrous and wild,
Sooth'd with a waking dream of houses, tow'rs,
Trees, churches, and strange visages, express'd
In the red cinders, while with poring eye I gaz'd, myself creating what I saw. Nor less amus'd have I quiescent watch'd The sooty films that play upon the bars, Pendulous, and foreboding, in the view Of superstition, prophesying still,
Though still deceiv'd, some stranger's near ap
'Tis thus the understanding takes repose
In indolent vacuity of thought,
And sleeps and is refresh'd. Meanwhile the face
Conceals the mood lethargic with a mask
Of deep deliberation, as the man
Were task'd to his full strength, absorb'd and lost.
Thus oft, reclin'd at ease, I lose an hour
At ev'ning, till at length the freezing blast,
sweeps the bolted shutter, summons home
The recollected pow'rs; and, snapping short
The glassy threads, with which the fancy weaves Her brittle toys, restores me to myself.
How calm is my recess; and how the frost, Raging abroad, and the rough wind, endear The silence and the warmth enjoy'd within? I saw the woods and fields, at close of day, A variegated show; the meadows green, Though faded; and the lands, where lately wav'd The golden harvest, of a mellow brown, Upturn'd so lately by the forceful share.
I saw far off the weedy fallows smile With verdure not unprofitable, graz'd
By flocks, fast feeding, and selecting each His fav'rite herb; while all the leafless
That skirt th' horizon, wore a sable hue, Scarce notic'd in the kindred dusk of eve. To-morrow brings a change, a total change! Which even now, though silently perform'd, And slowly, and by most unfelt, the face
Of universal nature undergoes.
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