Page:Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics.djvu/80

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And looking back, at that short spaceCould see a glimpse of his bright face; When on some gilded cloud or flower My gazing soul would dwell an hour, And in those weaker glories spy Some shadows of eternity; Before I taught my tongue to wound My conscience with a sinful sound, Or had the black art to dispense A several sin to every sense, But felt through all this fleshly dress Bright shoots of everlastingness.
O how I long to travel back. And tread again that ancient track! That I might once more reach that plain, Where first I left my glorious train; From whence th’ enlighten’d spirit sees That shady City of Palm trees! But ah! my soul with too much stay Is drunk, and staggers in the way: — Some men a forward motion love. But I by backward steps would move; And when this dust falls to the urn, In that state I came, return. H. Vaughan


lxxvi

TO MR. LAWRENCE

Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son, Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire The lily and rose, that neither sow’d nor spun.
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