An Ode to the River Eden

Delightful Eden! Parent Stream, 2Yet shall the Maids of Mem'ry say, When, led by Fancy's fairy Dream, 2My young Steps trac'd thy winding Way; How oft along thy mazy Shore, Where slowly wav'd the Willows hoar, 2In pensive Thought their Poet stray'd; Or, dozing near thy meadow'd side, Beheld thy dimply Waters glide, 2Bright thro' the trembling Shade.

Yet shall they paint those Scenes again, 2Where once with Infant-Joy He play'd, And bending o'er thy liquid Plain, 2The azure Worlds below survey'd: Led by the rosy-handed Hours, When Time trip'd o'er that Bank of Flowers, 2Which in thy chrystal Bosom smil'd: Tho' old the God, yet light and gay, He flung his Glass, his Scythe away, 2And seem'd himself, a Child.

The Poplar tall, that waving near 2Would whisper to thy murmurs free; Yet rustling seems to soothe mine Ear, 2And trembles when I sigh for Thee. Yet seated on thy shelving Brim, Can Fancy see the Naiads trim 2Burnish their green Locks in the Sun; Or at the last lone Hour of Day, To chase the lightly glancing Jay, 2In airy Circles run.

But, Fancy, can thy mimic Power 2Again those happy Moments bring? Cans't thou restore that golden Hour, 2When young Joy wav'd his laughing Wing? When first in Eden's rosy Vale, My full Heart pour'd the Lover's Tale, 2The vow sincere, devoid of Guile! While Delia in her panting Breast, With sighs, the tender Thought supprest, 2And look'd as Angels smile.

O Goddess of the christal Brow, 2That dwell'st the golden Meads among; Whose Streams still fair in memory flow, 2Whose murmurs melodize my Song! Oh! yet those gleams of Joy display, Which brightening glow'd in Fancy's Ray, 2When, near thy lucid Urn reclin'd, The Dryad, Nature, bar'd her Breast, And left, in naked Charms imprest, 2Her Image on my mind.

In vain— the Maids of Memory fair 2No more in golden Visions play; No Friendship smoothes the Brow of Care, No Delia's Smile approves my Lay. Yet, Love and Friendship lost to me, 'Tis yet some Joy to think of Thee, 2And in thy Breast this Moral find; That Life, tho' stain'd with Sorrow's Showers, Shall flow serene, while Virtue pours 2Her Sunshine on the Mind.