Ah lead forth my flock in the morn,
And the damps of each ev'ning repel;
Alas! I am faint and forlorn :
-I have bade my dear Phillis farewell.
Since Phillis vouchsaf'd me a look,
I never once dream'd of my vine;
May I lose both my pipe and my crook,
If I knew of a kid that was mine.
I priz'd ev'ry hour that went by
Beyond all that had pleas'd me before;
But now they are past, and I sigh;
And I grieve that I priz'd them no more.
But why do I languish in vain?
Why wander thus pensively here?
O! why did I come from the plain,
Where I fed on the smiles of my dear?
They tell me my favorite maid,
The pride of that valley, is flown;
Alas! where with her I have stray'd
I could wander with pleasure, alone.
When forc'd the fair nymph to forego,
What anguish I felt at my heart!
Yet I thought-but it might not be so-
'Twas with pain that she saw me depart.
She gaz'd as I slowly withdrew;
My path I could hardly discern;
So sweetly she bade me adieu,
I thought that she bade me return.
The pilgrim that journies all day
To visit some far distant shrine,
If he bear but a relique away,
Is happy, nor heard to repine.
Thus widely remov'd from the fair,
Where my vows, my devotion, I owe,
Soft hope is the relique I bear,
And my solace wherever I go.
Y banks they are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep; My grottos are shaded with trees,
And my hills are white over with sheep. I seldom have met with a loss,
Such health do my fountains bestow; My fountains all border'd with moss, Where the hare-bells and violets grow.
Not a pine in my grove is there seen
But with tendrils of woodbine is bound;
Not a beech's more beautiful green,
But a sweetbriar entwines it around:
Not my fields, in the prime of the year,
More charms than my cattle unfold;
Not a brook that is limpid and clear,
But it glitters with fishes of gold.
One would think she might like to retire
To the bow'r I have labor'd to rear;
Not a shrub that I heard her admire,
But I hasten'd and planted it there.
O how sudden the jassamine strove
With the lilac to render it gay!
Already it calls for my love
To prune the wild branches away.
From the plains, from the woodlands, and groves,
What strains of wild melody flow!
How the nightingales warble their loves
From the thickets of roses that blow !
And when her bright form shall appear,
Each bird shall harmoniously join,
In a concert so soft and so clear,
As she may not be fond to resign.
I have found out a gift for my fair;
I have found where the wood-pigeons breed; But let me that plunder forbear,
She will say 'twas a barbarous deed:
For he ne'er could be true, she averr'd,
Who could rob a poor bird of its young;
And I lov'd her the more when I heard
Such tenderness fall from her tongue.
I have heard her with sweetness unfold
How that pity was due to a dove;
That it ever attended the bold,
And she call'd it the sister of Love.
But her words such a pleasure convey,
So much I her accents adore,
Let her speak, and whatever she say,
Methinks I should love her the more.
Can a bosom so gentle remain,
Unmov'd when her Corydon sighs!
Will a nymph that is fond of the plain,
These plains and this valley despise?
Dear regions of silence and shade!
Soft scenes of contentment and ease!
Where I could have pleasingly stray'd,
If aught in her absence could please.
But where does my Phillida stray?
And where are her grots and her bow'rs?
Are the groves and the vallies as gay,
And the shepherds as gentle as ours?
The groves may perhaps be as fair,
And the face of the vallies as fine,
The swains may in manners compare,
But their love is not equal to mine.
HY will you my passion reprove? Why term it a folly to grieve? Ere I shew you the charms of my love, She is fairer than you can believe.
With her mien she enamours the brave,
With her wit she engages the free,
With her modesty pleases the grave;
She is ev'ry way pleasing to me.
O you that have been of her train,
Come and join in my amorous lays!
I could lay down my life for the swain
That will sing but a song in her praise.
When he sings, may the nymphs of the town
Come trooping, and listen the while;
Nay, on him let not Phillida frown
-But I cannot allow her to smile.
For when Paridel tries in the dance.
Any favor with Phillis to find,
O how with one trivial glance
Might she ruin the peace of my mind!
In ringlets he dresses his hair,
And his crook is bestudded around; And his pipe-O! my Phillis, beware Of a magic there is in the sound!
"Tis his with mock passion to glow;
"Tis his in smooth tales to unfold
'How her face is as bright as the snow,
And her bosom, be sure, is as cold:
"How the nightingales labor the strain,
With the notes of his charmer to vie ;
How they vary their accents in vain,
Repine at her triumphs, and die.'
To the grove or the garden he strays,
And pillages every sweet,
Then suiting the wreath to his lays,
He throws it at Phillis's feet.
'O Phillis,' he whispers, more fair,
More sweet than the jassamine's flow'r! What are pinks in a morn to compare? 'What is eglantine after a show'r?
Then the lily no longer is white,
Then the rose is depriv'd of its bloom, Then the violets die with despite,
And the woodbines give up their perfume."
Thus glide the soft numbers along,
And he fancies no shepherd his peer;
-Yet I never should envy the song,
Were not Phillis to lend it an ear.
Let his crook be with hyacinths bound,
So Phillis the trophy despise;
Let his forehead with laurels be crown'd,
So they shine not in Phillis's eyes.
The language that flows from the heart
Is a stranger to Paridel's tongue;
-Yet may she beware of his art,
Or sure I must envy the song.
IV. DISAPPOINTMENT.
E shepherds, give ear to my lay,
And take no more heed of my sheep;
They have nothing to do but to stray;
I have nothing to do but to weep.
Yet do not my folly reprove;
She was fair-and my passion begun;
She smil'd-and I could not but love;
She is faithless-and I am undone.
Perhaps I was void of all thought;
Perhaps it was plain to foresee,
That a nymph so complete would be sought
By a swain more engaging thau me.
Ah! love ev'ry hope can inspire,
It banishes wisdom the while,
And the lip of the nymph we admire,
Seems for ever adorn'd with a smile.
She is faithless, and I am undone:
Ye that witness the woes I endure,
Let reason instruct you to shun
What it cannot, instruct you to cure.
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