Ode to Health

Daughter of Exercise! at whose command Mirth spreads a smile upon the cheek of Care: At whose re-kindling breath Sickness looks up, and lives: Say! where (for much thy haunts I long to woo) Shall I thy joy-infusing presence hail, Amidst what sylvan scenes, Or unfrequented plains? Say! when the roseate finger of the morn Points out the glories of her short-liv'd reign, Shall I thy steps pursue, Climbing the mountain's side, From whose tall brow, in eminence superb, Fair Nature views her fruitful vales below, While Phoebus darts around His oriental eye? Or shall I trace thy vestige o'er the heath, Where, in derision of the florist's aid, Shoots up, untaught by art, The voluntary flower? For well, 'tis known, that oft upon the heath In contemplation, devious art thou seen, Or panting up the steep Of un-imprinted hill. Or, when cool evening, in her floating vest, Sweeps o'er the lawns, diffusing shadowy pomp, And bids the sun recline On Amphitrite's-breast, I will attend thee to the solemn grove, Where love stands registred on every tree, Where the rook rocks his young, And Echo learns to caw. Or, standing on the margent of the stream, I will survey thee on the passive wave, Then press the liquid bed, To meet thy naiad kiss. O tell me, nymph, thy chosen residence, Be it on mountain top, or forest wild, And I will consecrate A temple to thee there.