| |
| I AM 1 come to this sycamore tree, | |
| And lay myself down in its shade: | |
| The world has no pleasure for me; | |
| The hopes of my youth are betray’d. | |
| Flow on, thou sweet musical stream, | 5 |
| My murmurs shall mingle with thine; | |
| My spirit is wrapt in a dream, | |
| The sadness I feel is divine. | |
| |
| Hope took me, a gay little child, | |
| And soothed me to sleep on her breast | 10 |
| And, like my own mother, she smiled | |
| O’er the dreams of my innocent rest. | |
| Then beauty came whispering sweet, | |
| Every word had a magical power; | |
| And pleasure, with eyes of deceit, | 15 |
| Enticed me to enter her bower. | |
| |
| There love show’d his glittering dart, | |
| Just bathed in the nectar of bees; | |
| While fancy persuaded my heart, | |
| That his only design was to please. | 20 |
| And fame held her wreath of renown, | |
| All blooming with laurels divine; | |
| And promised the flourishing crown, | |
| To circle these temples of mine. | |
| |
| Then I said to myself in my sleep, | 25 |
| How lovely is all that I see! | |
| I shall never have reason to weep, | |
| For the world is a garden to me. | |
| But an angel came down from the skies, | |
| And claim’d me at once as her own; | 30 |
| Fair truth shed her light on my eyes, | |
| And the shades of delusion are flown. | |
| |
| I sigh for the dreams of my youth, | |
| All melted away into air; | |
| Yet say, that the sweet light of truth | 35 |
| Betray my poor heart to despair? | |
| Ah no! I may mourn for awhile, | |
| Till my bosom is freed from its leaven; | |
| Then peace shall return with a smile, | |
| And faith wast my spirit to heaven. | 40 |
