ON A GOLDFINCH, STARVED TO DEATH IN HIS CAGE. I. TIME was when I was free as air, II. But gaudy plumage, sprightly strain, And of a transient date; For caught, and caged, and starved to death, In dying sighs my little breath Soon pass'd the wiry grate. III. Thanks, gentle swain, for all my woes, And cure of every ill; More cruelty could none express; THE PINEAPPLE AND THE BEE. THE pineapples, in triple row, The nymph between two chariot glasses, The silly unsuccessful bee. The maid, who views with pensive air The show-glass fraught with glittering ware, Sees watches, bracelets, rings, and lockets, Our dear delights are often such, The sight our foolish heart inflames, With hopeless wish one looks and lingers; HORACE, Book II. Ode 10. I. RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach, Of adverse Fortune's power; II. He, that holds fast the golden mean, The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, Imbittering all his state. III. The tallest pines feel most the power Comes heaviest to the ground; The bolts, that spare the mountain's side,` His cloud-capp'd eminence divide, And spread the ruin round. IV. The well-inform'd philosopher If Winter bellow from the north, Soon the sweet Spring comes dancing forth, And Nature laughs again. V. What if thine heaven be overcast, The dark appearance will not last; Expect a brighter sky. The god that strings the silver bow, Awakes sometimes the muses too, And lays his arrows by. VI. If hindrances obstruct thy way, And let thy strength be seen; But O! if fortune fill thy sail With more than a propitious gale, Take half thy canvas in. |