Morning. the Second Elegy

Wish'd morn is come—a cheerful ray of light Peeps thro' the sable curtains of the night; And now I hear the towering lark, on high, Chant his glad mattins thro' the vocal sky.

Sleepless I've toss'd the tedious night away, And wish'd, impatient, for the tardy day; What now avails the cheerful dawn of light? Wrapt in despair, with me 'tis endless night.

All nature seems refresh'd; must only love No kind repose, no intermission prove? Even painful care is sometimes lull'd to sleep; Must love alone eternal vigils keep?

At Delia's window I'll my station take, And sing of love, till gentle Delia wake; In softest strain her slumbers I'll remove, And she shall wake to music and to love.

O! for Tibullus' voice, for Hammond's lyre, To kindle rapture, and excite desire! Then should she melt at every tender strain, And her heart sigh with sympathetic pain.

This is her window—sweetest Delia rise, O lovely maid, unveil thy radiant eyes; With one soft smile chase dark despair away, Arise, my Delia, smile and make it day.

She hears me not—regardless of my pain, Or, if she hears, she hears with cold disdain: On this bare earth for ever let me lie, Here let me languish, here despair and die.

But hark, a noise!—and now the window opes! 'Tis Delia's self—'tis she by all my hopes! Soft gracious smiles o'er every feature play, Bright as the radiance of the rising day.

Hail! beauteous nymph, in native charms array'd, Thou need'st from gaudy dress no borrow'd aid; How sweet that loose attire, that careless air, In artless negligence, divinely fair!

Come, come, my fair, together let us stray, And taste the fragrance of the early day; So shall young Health, the rosy child of Morn, With all his mother's bloom thy cheek adorn.

Look, look abroad, behold 'tis break of day; See, on yon lawn, the tender lambkins play; Now every linnet sings in every grove, And laughing Nature charms the soul to love.

She smiles assent—descend, celestial maid, Come to my arms, my love, be not afraid. Thus let me press my kind, consenting fair— Starting I woke—she vanish'd into air!

Oh! 'twas a flattering dream; too soon I found; Stretch'd at her door I slept upon the ground, Where Delia's form my busy fancy drew, Deck'd her in smiles, then thought the vision true.

Thus let me sleep, oh! thus for ever dream, Such heart-felt extasies, must more than seem; Then, like Endymion, blest enraptur'd boy! I'll lie entranc'd in everlasting joy!