Classic Poem

ON HIS MARRIAGE AT FORBEAR, AUGUST 19, 1798.

One trifling sixpence more, dear Forfar J OHN ,
To pay for this poor scrawl, and I have done.
The subject opens up a brilliant scene,
And calls for something from my rustic pen:
But don't expect a flow of warbling lays
To charm your ear, or chant your Fair -one's praise,
Unfit for such a task, my torpid muse,
Were I to ask it, would the task refuse,
Nor venture to debase the theme sublime
With fustian stanzas of Paganic rhyme.
My brink of eighty wears a frozen hue,
Too sable for the charms of such a view:
Yet, old and languid, I remember well,
With pleasing retrospect what you now feel;
And can, on memory's chart, the beauties trace
Of my once blooming, now decrepit, G RACE ,
Tottering tho' both with age, yet both uncloy'd
With sweets thro' F IFTY -S EVEN long years enjoy'd.
The rapt'rous flush of youth not fully gone,
But into solid friendship mellow'd down,
Such be my Reverend Grandson's future lot
In brighter life, and line of higher note.
Then let me, thus in low, but friendly, strain,
Express my love, and your acceptance gain.

Long may you glad recall the happy hour
That join'd you, hand-in-hand to
And gave you solace sweet of mortal life!
A young, a lovely, and a virtuous wife,
To share your comforts, and to soothe your fears,
Your joy in youth, your stay in drooping years;
A dear companion thro' the chequer'd path
That leads from marriage to the gate of death:
May you be long in one another blest
With love increasing to adorn the feast, —
The feast of matrimonial joys refin'd
By mutual sympathy of heart and mind,
With soft contentment, and abundance full
Of all that can delight the pious soul!
And may fair branches, in succession, run
From your conjunction, as from ours have done,
With many a flourishing and fertile shoot,
Springing in order from the parent-root,
Till in decline of years, like mine, you see
Descendents down to third and fourth degree,
Spreading, some more, some less, their leaves abroad.
In I SRAEL'S peace, as promis'd by her G OD !

Be t' your conjunct state, on earth's vain stage,
Thro' bloom of youth-hood to the frowns of age,
Pleas'd with yourselves, and favourites of Heaven,
Your conduct worthy, and defects forgiven,
Ready, when call'd, together to remove,
By angels led to those blest seats above,
Where all is harmony, and all is love!

Accipe, chare Nepos, tenuis pia vota Camaenae,
Nec sperne obscuri nubile munus Avi.