Ah, fading joy! how quickly art thou past! Yet we thy ruin haste. As if the cares of human life were few, We seek out new: And follow Fate, which would too fast pursue....
The earth is a place on which England is found, And you find it however you twirl the globe round; For the spots are all red and the rest is all grey,...
I remember my mother, the day that we met, A thing I shall never entirely forget; And I toy with the fancy that, young as I am, I should know her again if we met in a tram....
How slowly learns the child at school The names of all the nobs that rule From Ponsonby to Pennant; Ere his bewildered mind find rest, Knowing his host can be a Guest,...
Star that bringest home the bee, And sett'st the weary labourer free! If any star shed peace, 'tis thou, That send'st it from above, Appearing when Heaven's breath and brow Are sweet as hers we love....
No gentleman of England now sits at home at ease, But emulates on shore the heroes of the seas; A common cause unites them, to meet the daring foe, All they wish, all they ask, is a fav'ring wind to blow. ...
A wreath from an immortal bough Should deck that gen'rous victor's brow, Who hears his captive's grateful praise Augment the thanks his country pays; For him the minstrel's song shall flow,...
Hayley'thy tenderness fraternal shown In our first interview, delightful guest! To Mary, and me for her dear sake distress'd, Such as it is, has made my heart thy own,...
As Hermes once took to his feathers light, When lulled Argus, baffled, swooned and slept, So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright So played, so charmed, so conquered, so bereft...
An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king, - Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn, - mud from a muddy spring, - Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,...
"I do beseech Thee, God, show me thy face." "Come up to me in Sinai on the morn: Thou shalt behold as much as may be borne." And Moses on a rock stood lone in space....
If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd, And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet Fetter'd, in spite of pained loveliness; Let us find out, if we must be constrain'd, Sandals more interwoven and complete...
Oh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, When streams of light pour down the golden west, And on the balmy zephyrs tranquil rest The silver clouds, far, far away to leave...
No more, ye warblers of the wood, no more! Nor pour your descant, grating, on my soul; Thou young-eyed Spring, gay in thy verdant stole, More welcome were to me grim Winter's wildest roar. ...