Classic Poem

TO MR. POPE .

Pope! to whose reed beneath the beechen shade
The nymphs of Thames a pleas'd attention paid,
While yet thy Muse content with humbler praise
Warbled in Windsor's grove her sylvan lays,
Tho' now sublimely borne on Homer's wing
Of glorious wars and godlike chiefs she sing,
Wilt thou with me revisit once again
The crystal fountain and the flow'ry plain?
Wilt thou indulgent hear my verse relate
The various changes of a lover's state,
And while each turn of passion I pursue
Ask thy own heart if what I tell be true?
To the green margin of a lonely wood
Whose pendent shades o'erlook'd a silver flood
Young Damon came, unknowing where he stray'd,
Full of the image of his beauteous maid;
His flock far off unfed untended lay,
To ev'ry savage a defenceless prey;
No sense of int'rest could their master move,
And ev'ry care seem'd trifling now but love:
A while in pensive silence he remain'd,
But tho' his voice was mute his looks complain'd;
At length the thoughts within his bosom pent
Forc'd his unwilling tongue to give them vent.
" Ye Nymphs! " he cry'd, " ye Dryads! who so long
" Have favour'd Damon and inspir'd his song,
" For whom retir'd I shun the gray resorts
" Of sportful cities and of pompous courts,
" In vain I bid the restless world adieu,
" To seek tranquillity and peace with you.
" Tho' wild Ambition and destructive Rage
" No factions here can form, no wars can wage,
" Tho' Envy frowns not on your humble shades,
" Nor Calumny your innocence invades,
" Yet cruel Love, that troubler of the breast,
" Too often violates your boasted rest,
" With inbred storms disturbs your calm retreat,
" And taints with bitterness each rural sweet.
" Ah, luckless day! when first with fond surprise
" On Delia's face I fix'd my eager eyes,
" Then in wild tumults all my soul was tost,
" Then reason, liberty, at once were lost,
" And ev'ry wish, and thought, and care, was gone
" But what my heart employ'd on her alone.
" Then too she smil'd; can Smiles our peace destroy,
" Those lovely children of Content and Joy?
" How can soft pleasure and tormenting wo
" From the same spring at the same moment flow?
" Unhappy boy! these vain inquiries cease,
" Thought could not guard nor will restore thy peace;
" Indulge the frenzy that thou must endure,
" And sooth the pain thou know'st not how to cure.
" Come, flatt'ring Memory! and tell my heart
" How kind she was, and with what pleasing art
" She strove its fondest wishes to obtain,
" Confirm her pow'r and faster bind my chain.
" If on the green we danc'd a mirthful band,
" To me alone she gave her willing hand;
" Her partial taste if ere I touch'd the lyre
" Still in my song found something to admire;
" By none but her my crook with flow'rs was crown'd,
" By none but her my brows with ivy bound;
" The world that Damon was her choice believ'd,
" The world, alas! like Damon was deceiv'd.
" When last I saw her, and declar'd my fire
" In words as soft as passion could inspire,
" Coldly she heard, and full of scorn withdrew,
" Without one pitying glance, one sweet adieu.
" The frighted hind who sees his ripen'd corn
" Up from the roots by sudden tempests torn,
" Whose fairest hopes destroy'd and blasted lie,
" Feels not so keen a pang of grief as I.
" Ah! how have I deserv'd, inhuman Maid!
" To have my faithful service thus repaid?
" Were all the marks of kindness I receiv'd
" But dreams of joy that charm'd me and deceiv'd?
" Or did you only nurse my growing love
" That with more pain I might your hatred prove?
" Sure guilty treachery no place could find
" In such a gentle such a gen'rous mind;
" A maid brought up the woods and wilds among
" Could ne'er have learnt the art of courts so young:
" No; let me rather think her anger seign'd,
" Still let me hope my Delia may be gain'd;
" 'Twas only modesty that seem'd disdain,
" And her heart suffer'd when she gave me pain. "
Pleas'd with this flatt'ring thought the lovesick boy
Felt the faint dawning of a doubtful joy,
Back to his flock more cheerful he return'd
When now the setting sun more fiercely burn'd,
Blue vapours rose along the mazy rills,
And Light's last blushes ting'd the distant hills.