Ode to Solitude

I

Hail! Sacred solitude in whose calm bay
Far from the Worlds tempestuous Sea
I ride in safety and wisely proud despise
All its swelling Vanities
With pity mov’d for others cast away
On waves of Hopes and Fears I see them tost
On Rocks of Vice and Folly dash’d and lost
Some by a sudden Gust of adverse Fate
Some by prevailing Malice of the Great,
Or by too vain a trust and undeceiv’d too late
Struggling a while with restless Care
Sink in the deep Abyss of Black Despair
But more, far more, a long prodigious Train
By virtue courted but alas in Vain
Fly from her kind embracing Arms
Deaf to he fondest Call, Blind to her Brtightest Charms
Immers’d in Pleasure and in thoughtless Ease
Insensible they roll on deceitful Seas
Harpen’d and stupid Men whom their own Shipwreck please.


II

Hail! Sacred solitude Soul of my Soul
By these it is I truly Live;
Thou dost my better life and nobler Vigour Give
Thou dost each wild desire controul
Thy quiet fills my peaceful Breast
With unmix’d Joy, uninterrupted Rest
No bold intruding Love does e’er invade
This private solitary Shade
And with imaginary Ills, fantastick Griefs create
And spoil the true delights of such a bless’d Retreat
Yet I exalted Love admit
Disinterested Friendship, scorning sordid Gain
And purify’d from Lusts dishonest Stain
Nor is it for my Solitude unfit
For I am with my friend alone
As if we were but One
Friendship two souls in strictest Union ties
Tis the polluted Love that multiplies.

III

Here in a full and constant Tide to flow
All blessings Man can hope to know;
Free from all ambitious cares
Which Clog the soul with Slavish Fears
Free from the various Ills, and noisy strife
Of Parties poisoning all the Sweets of Life
Here in a deep recess of Thought we find
Pleasures which entertain and which exalt the mind
Such as from Friendship and from knowledge rise
And make us Happy, as they make us Wise.
Here may I always on the downy Grass
(Viewing the flowry vale and Craggy Mountains
Hearing the Birds sing to murmuring Fountains)
Unseen unknown my easy minutes pass
Till with a gentle Force victorious Death,
My solitude invades
And stopping for a while my Breath
Conveys me happy to the better Shades.