Classic Poem

Spoken in a Lady's Dressing-Room.

Here could I dwell, — O Laura, ever dear!
Spend all my life, and all my wishes here;
Bless'd in thy friendship, years would roll away
" Serenely calm, or innocently gay; "
Secure of that , my thoughts would soar above,
The transient raptures of impassion'd love:
Thy mind my object, hasten to impart
The chastest transports, to the warmest heart,
Which glows with friendship of the purest kind,
By reason sanction'd, and by years refined;
Which pants for joys, that time has yet in store,
For joys that bloom, when passion is no more.