I WOULD not die
To meet a goodly company ;
I was ever, ever shy.
And have loved to live retired.
That I might con
Some mystery scarce pondered on.
Oh, this I have desired !
No hope to brood
Where harpers wing on wing intrude.
Or bold saints with trumpets rude ;
Where four beasts from turning eyne
Watch my strange ways :
But in concealment of deep rays
May some recess be mine !
I never can.
On earth, though quite escaped from man,
Put society under ban :
Buzzing bees swing in a flower.
Gnats drum and dance.
The weasel intercepts my trance.
Birds warble through a bower.
Once Chloe graced
My suit ; how fondly we embraced !
Still my arm was round her waist :
Chloe dropt her pretty head
Upon my knee,
And Love was left alone with me
Just while she slumbered.
And once I lay
In sickness ; I had swooned away,
For I wandered as at play ;
It was untethered innocence :
Naught of my own
I had, the night was open thrown,
Sound wrought no more offence.
Endowed by thee,
Death, let me enter privacy,
Unmorose and fellowly
To mix, with the free pleasure
Of stars and springs
And magic, unfamiliar things,
My beauteous leisure.
