Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/149

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133

INSCRIPTION VI.

For a TABLET on the Banks of a Stream.

Stranger! awhile upon this mossy bankRecline thee. If the Sun rides high, the breeze,That loves to ripple o'er the rivulet,Will play around thy brow, and the cool soundOf running waters soothe thee. Mark how clearIt sparkles o'er the shallows, and beholdWhere o'er its surface wheels with restless speedYon glossy insect, on the sand belowHow the swift shadow flits. The stream is pureIn solitude, and many a healthful herbBends o'er its course and drinks the vital wave:But passing on amid the haunts of man,It finds pollution there, and rolls from thenceA tainted tide. Seek'st thou for Happiness?Go Stranger, sojourn in the woodland cotOf Innocence, and thou shalt find her there.
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