So few are they, since Time had birth, That scarce a name, adorning earth, Their love, with wonder and applause, As something passing Nature's laws, O Friendship, thus, in humble song, Amidst this scene of sordid strife, Come, fit me for a better life, THE ANSWER. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. BY W. PRESTON, ESQ. YES, Friendship is a sov'ran good; My soul it's worth has understood, I know the joy thou canst impart, Yet still, within my secret soul, I find, renouncing Love's controul, In sorrows oft the Friend we try, All sober thought, all selfish aims, Thro' storm, contagion, death, and flames, Some fitting object, from above, And, sure, the renegade from Love To deck the female form and mind, No-wiser, better far the plan, Full oft has Friendship warm'd my heart, But ne'er could Friendship joys impart There is a sweetness, and a charm, Mere Friendship cannot know; When heart to heart beats quick and warm, And meeting eyes o'erflow. Nor let the leaden spirit dare To boast he Friendship feels, Who Woman views supremely fair, And yet his bosom steels. For, when the heart to Friendship's sway Is harmoniz'd above, It sure has travell'd half the way To reach the sphere of LovE. True Love enhances Friendship's joy, With varied charms combin'd; And bids the mutual wish employ The senses, and the mind. The Poet oft capricious sings, And idle wit displays, To magnify the meanest things, And what is good dispraise; Not that I Friendship would decry, The cordial of the soul: But Friendship's sway must never vie, Thro' ev'ry clime, and ev'ry age, The proudest Chief, the wisest Sage, When Noontide sends her arrows round, And Summer's sway prevails, Go, doubt if light and heat are found Go-doubt, if elements are good; If useful is th' etherial flood, And censure then in cynic mood, With living kind at strife, That element of general good, What treasure can the mine impart In ore and precious stone, To reach the treasure of a heart, Devoted, and my own? What beauteous tint can Nature show In earth, or heav'n above, To reach the sweet etherial glow Of soft consenting Love? Behold the beauteous ev'ning star, And moon adorn the sky: More soft the light, and beauteous far, That beams from Woman's eye. How bright the rays of morning shine But brighter Woman's glance divine, Attractive is the meadow's face But more attractive female grace, More sweet the female mind. Great are the joys that Friendships prove, And Kindred can impart : But what are they to joys of Love? Speak-ye, who have a heart. Ev'n rudest tribes that never felt, In warfare nurst and storm, Believ'd that something sacred dwelt And something sacred dwells indeed, Th' immediate hand of Heav'n we read, Lo-Heav'n thro' her the sacred stream Or where had been the Poet's theme, What motives Woman's smile supplies, To prompt the manly toil!- |