Classic Poem

Hail ! Friendship hail, thou pow'r benign!
But destin'd on how few to shine
With pure unfullied ray:
Too oft thy mild diffusive beam,
Converges to the fierce extreme
Of love's capricious day.

How oft beneath thy specious name,
We harbour love's destructive flame,
Regardless of our peace;
'Till reason sound the dread alarm —
Contemn the jest, dissolve the charm,
And bid delusion cease.

Thine is the mild refulgent light
That decorates the brow of night,
When nature smiles serene;
When, free from care, and active strife
And all the bustling coil of life,
We hail the tranquil scene.

His is the fierce, pervasive ray
That animates the face of day
When in meridian height;
Apollo from his flaming car
Pours his redundant beams afar,
Intolerably bright!

Thrice happy she whose equal mind
Feels thy full force, thy flame refin'd,
Thy sympathetic glow:
Who views with philosophic eye,
The sportive loves that flutter by
And fill the vale below:

Her's — is the mild unruffled joy
That knows no turbid, base alloy,
No passion in extreme:
Reason supplies the balmy gale,
" Buoyant on hope " she spreads the sail
And skims the halcyon stream.

Were I allow'd to form a pray'r —
Remote from love, and noise, and care,
Where reason points the seat;
With thee , I'd unambitious dwell:
And call the Muses round my cell,
To bless the snug retreat.