Ode to Peace
Come, Peace of Mind, delightful guest,
Return and make thy downy nest
Once more in this sad heart!
Nor riches I, nor power pursue,
Nor hold forbidden joys in view;
We therefore need not part.
Where wilt thou dwell if not with me.
From avarice and ambition free
And pleasure's fatal wiles?
For whom, alas! dost thou prepare,10
The sweets which I was wont to share
The banquet of thy smiles.
The great, the gay, shall they partake
The heaven that thou alone canst make?
And wilt thou quit the stream
That murmurs through the dewy mead,
The grove and the sequester'd shed,
To be a guest with them?
For thee I panted; thee I prized.
For thee I gladly sacrificed20
Whatever I lov'd before;
And shall I see the start away
And, helpless, hopeless, hear thee say—
Farewell! we meet no more!