O Cherub Content.
[The following is an early production of Thomas Campbell, author of the "Pleasures of Hope," but is not included in any collected edition of his works that we know of. It is adapted to the Irish air called "Coolun."]
O Cherub Content! at thy moss-cover'd shrine,
I would all the gay hopes of my bosom resign,—
I would part with ambition thy votary to be,
And breathe not a vow but to friendship and thee.
But thy presence appears from my pursuit to fly,
Like the gold-colour'd cloud on the verge of the sky;
No lustre that hangs on the green willow tree
Is so short as the smile of thy favour to me.
In the pulse of my heart I have nourish'd a care,
That forbids me thy sweet inspiration to share;
The noon of my youth slow departing I see,
Eut its years as they pass bring no tidings of thee.
O Cherub Content! at thy moss-cover'd shrine,
I would offer my vows, if Matilda were mine;
Could I call her my own whom enraptur'd I see,
I would breathe not a vow but to friendship and thee.