| |
| WHEN the black-lettered list to the gods was presented | |
| (The list of what Fate for each mortal intends), | |
| At the long string of ills a kind goddess relented, | |
| And slipped in three blessings,—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| In vain surly Pluto maintained he was cheated, | 5 |
| For justice divine could not compass its ends; | |
| The scheme of man’s penance he swore was defeated, | |
| For earth becomes heaven with—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| If the stock of our bliss is in stranger hands vested, | |
| The fund, ill secured, oft in bankruptcy ends; | 10 |
| But the heart issues bills which are never protested, | |
| When drawn on the firm of—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| Though valor still glows in his life’s dying embers, | |
| The death-wounded tar, who his colors defends, | |
| Drops a tear of regret as he dying remembers | 15 |
| How blessed was his home with—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| The soldier, whose deeds live immortal in story, | |
| Whom duty to far distant latitudes sends, | |
| With transport would barter whole ages of glory | |
| For one happy day with—wife, children, and friends. | 20 |
| |
| Though spice-breathing gales on his caravan hover, | |
| Though for him all Arabia’s fragrance ascends, | |
| The merchant still thinks of the woodbines that cover | |
| The bower where he sat with—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| The dayspring of youth, still unclouded by sorrow, | 25 |
| Alone on itself for enjoyment depends; | |
| But drear is the twilight of age, if it borrow | |
| No warmth from the smile of—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| Let the breath of renown ever freshen and nourish | |
| The laurel which o’er the dead favorite bends; | 30 |
| O’er me wave the willow, and long may it flourish, | |
| Bedewed with the tears of—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
| Let us drink, for my song, growing graver and graver, | |
| To subjects too solemn insensibly tends; | |
| Let us drink, pledge me high, love and virtue shall flavor | 35 |
| The glass which I fill to—wife, children, and friends. | |
| |
