The Improvisatore[;] or, 'John Anderson, My Jo, John'

1. 1Yes, yes! that boon, life's richest treat
2. 2He had, or fancied that he had;
3. 3Say, 'twas but in his own conceit--
4. 4The fancy made him glad!
5. 5Crown of his cup, and garnish of his dish!
6. 6The boon, prefigured in his earliest wish,
7. 7The fair fulfilment of his poesy,
8. 8When his young heart first yearn'd for sympathy!
9. 9But e'en the meteor offspring of the brain
10. 10Unnourished wane;
11. 11Faith asks her daily bread,
12. 12And Fancy must be fed!
13. 13Now so it chanced--from wet or dry,
14. 14It boots not how--I know not why--
15. 15She missed her wonted food; and quickly
16. 16Poor Fancy stagger'd and grew sickly.
17. 17Then came a restless state, 'twixt yea and nay,
18. 18His faith was fix'd, his heart all ebb and flow;
19. 19Or like a bark, in some half-shelter'd bay,
20. 20Above its anchor driving to and fro.

1. 21That boon, which but to have possess'd
2. 22In a belief, gave life a zest--
3. 23Uncertain both what it had been,
4. 24And if by error lost, or luck;
5. 25And what it was;--an evergreen
6. 26Which some insidious blight had struck,
7. 27Or annual flower, which, past its blow,
8. 28No vernal spell shall e'er revive;
9. 29Uncertain, and afraid to know,
10. 30Doubts toss'd him to and fro:
11. 31Hope keeping Love, Love Hope alive,
12. 32Like babes bewildered in a snow,
13. 33That cling and huddle from the cold
14. 34In hollow tree or ruin'd fold.

1. 35Those sparkling colours, once his boast
2. 36Fading, one by one away,
3. 37Thin and hueless as a ghost,
4. 38Poor Fancy on her sick bed lay;
5. 39Ill at distance, worse when near,
6. 40Telling her dreams to jealous Fear!
7. 41Where was it then, the sociable sprite
8. 42That crown'd the Poet's cup and deck'd his dish!
9. 43Poor shadow cast from an unsteady wish,
10. 44Itself a substance by no other right
11. 45But that it intercepted Reason's light;
12. 46It dimm'd his eye, it darken'd on his brow,
13. 47A peevish mood, a tedious time, I trow!
14. 48Thank Heaven! 'tis not so now.

1. 49O bliss of blissful hours!
2. 50The boon of Heaven's decreeing,
3. 51While yet in Eden's bowers
4. 52Dwelt the first husband and his sinless mate!
5. 53The one sweet plant, which, piteous Heaven agreeing,
6. 54They bore with them thro' Eden's closing gate!
7. 55Of life's gay summer tide the sovran Rose!
8. 56Late autumn's Amaranth, that more fragrant blows
9. 57WhenPassion's flowers all fall or fade;
10. 58If this were ever his, in outward being,
11. 59Or but his own true love's projected shade,
12. 60Now that at length by certain proof he knows,
13. 61That whether real or a magic show,
14. 62Whate'er it was, it is no longer so;
15. 63Though heart be lonesome, Hope laid low,
16. 64Yet, Lady! deem him not unblest:
17. 65The certainty that struck Hope dead,
18. 66Hath left Contentment in her stead:
19. 67And that is next to Best!