Classic Poem

To a Lady .

Madam, to you, this tale I send,
Fear not a satire from a friend,
Nor deem it insult, if the muse
The female's little slips pursues;
I scorn a thought so mean and base,
As to offend the lovely race,
In your dear sex a charm we find,
To lull the tempests in the mind;
To banish ev'ry gloomy care,
Corrosive passions, palid fear,
Make ev'ry hour with pleasure roll,
And tune with harmony the soul;
For this the friendly muse would shew
The fatal cause of others woe,
Where dangers lurk the paths to clear,
And by example — warn the fair.

Clari was blest with ev'ry grace
That dignifies the softer race,
Not merely with a face that's fair,
But just proportion, figure, air,
Each pleasing, soft attractive charm,
That can the human breast alarm.

Ye fair, of blooming charms possest,
Where beauty's image shines confest,
Reflect how transient is the boast,
The flower of a day at most.

The rose, all beauteous to the eye,
Must shed its sweets, and quickly die;
The lilly fragrant, fair and tall,
Alike must fade, alike must fall;
The circling year shall these renew,
Restore their fragrance and their hue.

But tho' your blooming cheeks disclose,
The lilly and the blushing rose,
When by the hand of time subdu'd,
Shall never rise like them, renew'd.

The beaux beheld Clarinda's eyes,
And mark'd her dawning beauties rise,
The wits began in tuneful lays,
To circulate the fair one's praise.

Charming Clarinda, fair and young,
Was long the burthen of each song,
The roses hue her cheeks bedeck,
The lillies white o'erspread her neck,
Arabia's gale was in her breath,
Her eyes shot flaming darts of death.

O vanity! thou raging pest,
Curst canker to the female breast,
To you it is Clarinda owes
Her various ills, her various woes;
Their flatt'ring tales her mind possest,
Her glass and maid compleat the rest;
She takes the praise bestow'd as debt,
And issues fort a pert coquet.

Where'er she went, the park, the play,
Fresh suitors crowded ev'ry day;
The fop, and man of sense, she heard,
But none was to her charms preferr'd;
For self conceit her constant guest,
The sole adviser of her breast,
Her passions friend now brought its aid,
And thus addrest the simple maid:

Could Heaven such charms as thine bestow,
To bless some paultry 'squire? no;
A lord, a duke, perhaps a king,
Pomp and magnificence shall bring,
Ermine and equipage, and state,
While slaves obsequious on me wait.

Thus long she reign'd a giddy thing,
The toast and rival of the ring;
At length her beauty ran its date,
Who can resist the will of fate?

O'ercast the fatal morn appear'd,
Her paroquet was screaming heard,
Her favo'rite Chloe howl'd, and all
Gave omen of her beauty's fall;
Unheeding this, on play intent,
To young Cardilla's rout she went,
Her rivals soon perceiv'd the change,
The witling snear'd — she thought it strange;
The laugh goes round, she calls her chair,
And home precipitates the fair:
When to her mirror strait she flies,
And, views, alas! with great surprize,
Her deep sunk eyes, her wrinkled face,
And all the cause of her disgrace.
Oh! cruel fate, aloud she calls,
Then fainting, on her settee falls.
While thus th' afflicted fair one lay,
The God, whose power all things obey,
With downy feet came swiftly on,
And to his victim thus begun:

Cease, cease your tears, you weep in vain,
Grief can't renew your charms again;
Did you too credulous believe
Those charms cou'd swift-pac'd time deceive.
Ah! foolish hope, deluded maid,
'Tis but a debt to me you've paid.

Implicit all things TIME obey,
And own my universal sway,
I pull the stateliest fabric down,
E'en kings to me submit their crown;
The medal and the heroe's bust,
By me are crumbled into dust;
Ev'n he who takes each mortal's breath,
Shall fall by me, I conquer death.
And shall vain beauty's gaudy flow'r,
Above the rest escape my power?

Ye nymphs now in your beauty's prime,
Regard the lay, remember time.