27.05.2007, 13:17
To Dependence
Dependence! heavy, heavy are the chains,
And happier they who from the dangerous sea,
Or the the dark mine, procure with ceaseless pains
And hard-earned pittance – than who trust to thee!
More blest the hind, who from his bed of flock
Starts – when the birds of morn their summons give,
And wakened by the lark – “ “the shepherd’s clock,”
Lives but to labor – laboring but to live.
More noble than the sycophant, whose art
must heap with tawdry flowers thy hated shrine;
I envy not the meed thou canst impart
To crown his service – while, though pride combine
With fraud to crush me-my unfettered heart
Still to the Mountain Nymph may offer mine.
Dependence! heavy, heavy are the chains,
And happier they who from the dangerous sea,
Or the the dark mine, procure with ceaseless pains
And hard-earned pittance – than who trust to thee!
More blest the hind, who from his bed of flock
Starts – when the birds of morn their summons give,
And wakened by the lark – “ “the shepherd’s clock,”
Lives but to labor – laboring but to live.
More noble than the sycophant, whose art
must heap with tawdry flowers thy hated shrine;
I envy not the meed thou canst impart
To crown his service – while, though pride combine
With fraud to crush me-my unfettered heart
Still to the Mountain Nymph may offer mine.