LYRIC POEMS. 288 To Mr. WILLIAM. NORES: To Dr.- THOMAS GIBSON, Friendship. The Life of Souls. 1702. 1704. 1 FRIENDSHIP, thou charmer of the 1 SWIFT as the sun revolves the day mind, Wd hasten to the dead, Thou sweet deluding ill, Slaves to the wind we puffaway, The brightest minutemortals find, And to the ground we tread. And sharpest hour we. feel. 'Tis air that lends us life, when first The vital bellows heave: 2 Fate has divided all our shares Our flesh we borrow of the dust; Of pleasure and of pain And when a mother's care has Hurst In love the comforts and the cares The babe to manly size, we must Are mix'd and join'd again. With usury pay the grave. 3 Ent whilst iu floods our sorrow rolls, 2 Rich juleps drawn from precious ore And drops of joy are few, Still tend the dying flame: trims, This dear delight of mingling souls And plants, and roots, of barbarous Serves but to swell our woe. Torn from the Indian shore. 4 Oh I why should bliss depart in haste, Thus we support our tott'ring flesh, And friendship stay to moan ? Our cheeks resume the rosé afresh, Why the fond passion cling so fast, Whenbarkandstee 1plaÿwelltheirgame When ev'ry joy is gone ? To save our sinking breath, And Gibson, with his awful power,. 5 Yet never let our hearts divide, Rescues the poor precarious hour Nor death dissolve the chain : From the demands of death. For love and joy were once ally'd, y But art and nature, powers ànd And must be;mn'd again. charms, To NATHANIEL GOULD, Esq. And drugs, and recipes, and forms, Now SIR NATHANIEL GOULD. Yield us, at last, to greedy worms, 1 'TIS no t b 1 do r or by state y sp en u , A despicable prey; Exalted mien, or loftygait, I'd have elite to call my own, My muse takes measure of a king: That shall depend on heav'n alone ; If wealth, or height, or bulk will do, Nor air, nor earth, nor sea, She calls each mountain of Peru Mix their base essences with mine, A more majestic thing. Nor claim dominion so divine Frown on me, friend, if e'er I boast To give me leave to be. O'er fellow minds inslav'd in clay, 4 Sure there's a mind within, that reigns Or swell when I shall have ingrost O'er the dull current of my veins; A larger heapof shining dust, I feel the inward pulse beat high And wear a bigger load ofearth thanthey. With vig'rous immortality : Let the vain world salute me loud, Let earth resume the flesh it gave, Mythoughts look inward, and forget Andbreathdissolveamongstthe winds; The sounding names of High and Gibson, the things that fear a grave,. Great, That I can lose, or you can save, The flatteries of the crowd. Are not a-kin to minds. 2 When Gould commands his ships to 5 We claim acquaintance with the skies: ran And search the traffic of the sea, Upward our spirits hourly rise, His fleet o'ertakes the fallingday, And there our thoughts employ: And bears the western mines away, When heav'n shallsign our grand re. Or richer spices from the rising sun: lease, While the glad tenants of the shore We are no strangers to the place, Shout, and pronounce him senator,* Thebusiness, or the joy. Yet still the man's the same: False Greatness. For well the happy merchant knows The soul with treasure never grows, 1 MYLO, forbear to call him blest Nor swells with airy fame. That only boasts a large estate, s But trust me, Gould, 'tis lawful pride Should all the treasures of the west To rise above the mean control . Meet,andcnuspire tomake himgreat, Of flesh and sense,to whichwe're ty'd; I know thy better thoughts, I know This is ambition that becomes a soul. Thy reason cant descend so low. We steer ourcourse up thro'the skies; Let abroad stream with golden sands Farewell this barren land: Thad all his meadows roll, He's but a wretch, with all his lands, We k e n the heav'nly shore with longing That wears a narrow soul. eyes, There the dear wealth of spirits lies, 2 He swells amidst Isis wealthy store, And beck'ning angels staud. And proudly poizing what he weighs. * Member of Parliament for a 'port in In his own scale he fondly lays Sussex. Huge heaps of shining ore.
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