PLEASURES OF HOPE. PART I. AT t summer eve, when Heav'n's aërial bow Spans with bright arch the glittering hills below, Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye, Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky? Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear More sweet than all the landscape smiling near ? 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue. Thus, with delight, we linger to survey, With The promis'd joys of life's unmeasur'd way; That Thus, from afar, each dim-discover'd scene Thine More pleasing seems than all the past hath been; That Can Wisdom lend, with all her heav'nly pow'r, I Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of man Her dim horizon bounded to a span; SE Or, if she hold an image to the view, Tis Nature pictured too severely true. |