This elegant rose, had I shaken it less, Might have bloom'd with it's owner a while; And the tear, that is wip'd with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps by a smile. THE DOVES. 1. REAS'NING at ev'ry step he treads, Man yet mistakes his way, While meaner things, whom instinct leads, Are rarely known to stray. II. One silent eve I wander'd late, III. Our mutual bond of faith and truth Those blessings of our early youth Shall cheer our latest age: IV. While innocence without disguise, And constancy sincere, Shall fill the circles of those eyes, And mine can read them there; V. Those ills, that wait on all below, Or gently felt, and only so, As being shar'd with thee. VI. When lightnings flash among the trees, I fear lest thee alone they seize, VII. "Tis then I feel myself a wife, VIII. But oh! if, fickle and unchaste, IX. No need of lightnings from on high, Denied th' endearments of thine eye, X. Thus sang the sweet sequester'd bird, A FABLE. A RAVEN, while with glossy breast Shook the young leaves about her ears, Lest the rude blast should snap the bough, |