Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made : A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintain'd its man ; For him light labour spread her wholesome store, But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain; Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose, Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose : And every want to luxury allied, And every pang that folly pays to pride. Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, Those calm desires that ask'd but little room, These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour, Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power. Here, as I take my solitary rounds Amidst thy tangling walks and ruin'd grounds, And, many a year elapsed, return to view In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs-and God has given my shareTo husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting by repose: I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first he flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Retreats from care, that never must be mine: How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these, A youth of labour with an age of ease; Who quits a world where strong temptations try, And since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly! For him no wretches, born to work and weep, |