Sonnet XIX (FOR me the Muse a simple…)

FOR me the Muse a simple band design'd Of 'idle' flowers that bloom the woods among, Which, with the cypress and the willow join'd, A garland form'd as artless as my song. And little dared I hope its transient hours So long would last; composed of buds so brief; 'Till Hayley's hand among the vagrant flowers Threw from his verdant crown a deathless leaf. For high in Fame's bright fane has Judgment placed The laurel wreath Serena's poet won, Which, woven with myrtles by the hands of Taste, The Muse decreed for this her favorite son. And those immortal leaves his temples shade, Whose fair, eternal verdure—shall not fade!