[Page 290]

A SONG.

1 YE scenes that engag'd my gay youth,
2 Say, whither so fast do ye fly?
3 If the lesson you told me was truth,
4 Ah! why do ye fade from my eye?
[Page 291]
5 That meadow where often I stray'd,
6 That bank, and yon shadowy tree,
7 Those streams, with such fondness survey'd,
8 Have hid all their sweetness from me.
9 Yon hill that uprears his smooth head,
10 Where the wild-thyme its fragrance bestows,
11 Whose verdures have rose from my bed,
12 And whose breezes have sigh'd my repose.
13 What tho' from his summit so high.
14 Flock, cottage, and woodland are seen;
15 Yet no more I with fondness descry,
16 For indifference rises between.
17 Ah! whither, ye sweets, do ye fly?
18 For fancy your absence must mourn;
19 Ah! say, will ye fade from my eye,
20 And yet will ye never return?
21 That valley, whose mantle so gay,
22 Is with primrose and cowslip o'erspread;
23 No longer invites me to stray,
24 And rifle the sweets of their bed.
25 Not odious at present they look;
26 I discern that their colours are bright;
27 But their charms have my fancy forsook,
28 And their fragrance forgot to delight.
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29 To my cooler attention how dear
30 The soothing complaint of the dove!
31 I have left my companions to hear
32 The wood-linnet warble her love.
33 Nor these can my footsteps retard;
34 Or if round me they carelessly fly,
35 From mine eyes they attract no regard,
36 And my ears their soft warblings deny.
37 Ah! sure 'tis the bus'ness of life,
38 That bids those endearments depart;
39 To involve us in cares and in strife,
40 That estrange and entangle the heart.
41 With destiny all must comply;
42 Yet cannot my fancy but mourn,
43 For the season that fades from my eye,
44 And the sweets that must never return.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): A SONG.
Author: John Gerrard
Themes: age; death
Genres: song
References: DMI 32674

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. IV. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 290-292. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1137; OTA K093079.004) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.791].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.