- 1Hence! thou fiend of gloomy sway,
- 2That lov'st on withering blast to ride
- 3O'er fond Illusion's air-built pride.
- 4Sullen Spirit! Hence! Away!
- 5Where Avarice lurks in sordid cell,
- 6Or mad Ambition builds the dream,
- 7Or Pleasure plots th' unholy scheme
- 8>There with Guilt and Folly
dwell!
- 9But oh! when Hope on Wisdom's wing
- 10Prophetic whispers pure delight,
- 11Be distant far thy cank'rous blight,
- 12Demon of envenom'd sting.
- 13Then haste thee, Nymph of balmy gales!
- 14Thy poet's prayer, sweet May! attend!
- 15'Mid her lovely native vales.
- 16Oh! place my parent and my friend
- 17'Mid her lovely native vales.
- 18Peace, that lists the woodlark's strains,
- 19Health, that breathes divinest treasures,
- 20Laughing Hours, and Social Pleasures
- 21Wait my friend in Cambria's plains.
- 22Affection there with mingled ray
- 23Shall pour at once the raptures high
- 24Of filial and maternal Joy;
- 25Haste thee then, delightful May!
- 26And oh! may Spring's fair flowerets fade,
- 27May Summer cease her limbs to lave
- 28In cooling stream, may Autumn grave
- 29Yellow o'er the corn-cloath'd glade;
- 30Ere, from sweet retirement torn,
- 31She seek again the crowded
mart:
- 32Nor thou, my selfish, selfish heart
- 33Dare her slow return to
mourn!