NYMPH of the defert! on this lonely shore
Simplicity, thy bleffings ftill are mine,
And all thou canft not give I pleas'd refign,
For all befide can footh my foul no more.
I ask no lavish heaps to fwell my store,
And purchase pleasures far remote from thine;
Ye joys, for which the race of Europe pine,
Ah, not for me your ftudied grandeur pour.
Let me, where yon tall cliffs are rudely pil'd,
Where towers the palm amidst the mountain trees,
Where pendent from the steep, with graces wild,
The blue liana floats upon the breeze,
Still haunt those bold receffes, nature's child,
Where thy majestic charms my spirit seize!
THE Strawberry blooms upon its lowly bed,
Plant of my native foil!—the lime may fling
More potent fragrance on the zephyr's wing;
The milky cocoa richer juices shed;
The white guava lovelier bloffoms spread:
But not like thee to fond remembrance bring
The vanish'd hours of life's enchanting spring,
Short calendar of joys for ever fled !
Thou bidft the scenes of childhood rife to view,
The wild-wood path which fancy loves to trace;
Where, veil'd in leaves, thy fruit of rofy hue
Lurk'd on its pliant ftem with modest grace:
But, ah! when thought would later years renew,
Alas, fucceffive forrows crowd the space!
SOOTH'D by the murmurs on the fea-beat fhore,
His dun-grey plumage floating to the gale,
The Curlew blends his melancholy wail
With those hoarfe founds the rushing waters pour.
Like thee, congenial bird! my steps explore
The bleak lone fea-beach, or the rocky dale,
And fhun the orange bower, the myrtle vale,
Whofe gay luxuriance fuits my foul no more.
I love the ocean's broad expanfe, when drest
In limpid clearnefs, or when tempefts blow;
When the finooth currents on its placid breaft
Flow calm as my past moments used to flow;
Or, when its troubled waves refuse to reft,
And feem the fymbol of my present woe.
PATHWAY of light! o'er thy empurpled zone,
With lavish charms perennial summer strays;
Soft 'midft thy fpicy groves the zephyr plays,
While far around the rich perfumes are thrown:
The amadavid-bird for thee alone,
Spreads his gay plumes that catch thy vivid rays;
For thee the gems with liquid luftre blaze,
And nature's various wealth is all thy own.
But, ah! not thine is twilight's doubtful gloom,
Thofe mild gradations, mingling day with night;
Here, inftant darkness shrouds thy genial bloom,
Nor leaves my penfive foul that ling'ring light,
When musing mem'ry would each trace resume
Of fading pleasures in fucceffive flight.
SUBLIME Calbaffia! luxuriant tree,
How foft the gloom thy bright-hu'd foliage throws,
While from thy pulp a healing balfam flows,
Whofe power the fuff'ring wretch from pain can
free.
My penfive footsteps ever turn to thee!
Since oft, while mufing on my lasting woes,
Beneath thy flow'ry white-bells I repofe,
Symbol of friendship, doft thou seem to me:
For thus has friendship cast her foothing fhade
unfhelter'd bofom's keen diftrefs;
Thus fought to heal the wounds which love has
And temper bleeding forrow's fharp excefs!
Ah! not in vain fhe lends her balmy aid :
The agonies the cannot cure, are less!
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