THE DOVES. I. 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, And heard the voice of love; The turtle thus address'd her mate, Our mutual bond of faith and truth No time shall disengage, 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; ས. 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, Or kites are hovʼring near, I fear lest thee alone they seize, And know no other fear. VII. "Tis then I feel myself a wife, VIII. But oh! if, fickle and unchaste, (Forgive a transient thought) No need of lightnings from on high, Denied th' endearments of thine eye, X. Thus sang the sweet sequester'd bird, Soft as the passing wind, And I recorded what I heard, A lesson for mankind. A FABLE. A Raven, while with glossy breast Shook the young leaves about her ears, } Lest the rude blast should snap the bough, (For ravens, though as birds of omen They teach both conj'rers and old women, To tell us what is to befall, Can't prophesy themselves at all.) The morning came, when neighbour Hodge, Climb'd like a squirrel to his dray, MORAL. "Tis Providence alone secures In ev'ry change both mine and yours: Fate steals along with silent tread, A COMPARISON. THE lapse of time and rivers is the same, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. A diff'rence strikes at length the musing heart; |