Rural & Friendly Pleasures

A TRUCE with life's tumultuous cares,
Fled from the world's entangling snares,
Let rural joys the mind unbend:
Where sportive Health delighted roves,
Mid the calm shades Contentment loves,
I seek my soul's congenial friend.
What verdure clothes the glowing plain!
(Verdure near cities sought in vain)
The hamlet's rustic scenes in view;
Here what exalted rapture warms
The heart alive to Nature's charms,
Mid landscapes tinged with every hue.
The corn-fields clad in trembling green,
The russet lands dispersed between,
Just recent from the plough-man's toil;
While half-conceal'd the streamlet glides,
'Neath matted reeds its current hides,
Enriching silently the grateful soil.
O'er the heath, with furze embrown'd,
The fleecy tribe lie scatter'd round,
While near the path a straggler feeds,
Whose shaggy coat but partly shorn,
As if by ruthless brambles torn,
Hangs like the beggar's tattered weeds.
The snowy geese with hissing cry,
Scared at the traveller rustling by,
Stretch their long necks and scream;
The whole flock join the grating song,
Flapping their wings they skim along,
To seek the neighb'ring stream.
When Evening breathes her tepid breeze,
Mid fragrant shrubs and towering trees,
How sweet to stray, by Friendship blest;
Far from the noisy haunts of strife,
Far from the stage of busy life,
No cares our purer joys molest.
Those moments not less pleasing glide,
When books a mental treat provide,
While the chill blast the rural walk denies;
When mind communicates with mind
The sweet exchange of thought refined,
Nor heeds the rattling rain nor angry skies.
Oft have we past the Sabbath's holy hour,
Where the neat church high rears her ancient tow'r,
Together oft the hallow'd pavement trod;
The cottagers abound in decent dress,
A simple fervor in their looks express,
While prayer and praise up-wing the soul to God.
Friendship, thou beam of heavenly fire,
O, still may'st thou my thoughts inspire,
Pour on my heart thy sacred ray!
Thou shalt survive the bounds of time,
Rais'd to thy own celestial clime,
For ever reign in uncreated day.