Classic Poem

When virtue guards, and innocence protects,
The deadly musket and the sword are vain;
Fortune may frown, surrounding ills perplex,
The smile of conscience smooths the path of pain.

Serenely brave, thro' L YSIA'S scorching wilds
The good man walks, nor dreads her brindled brood
Pursues his way where I NDIAN never builds
His humble hut, and stems O RELLAN'S flood.

A meagre wolf, a fiercer never den'd
In A LPIN forest, or H ELVETIAN hill,
Gaunt famine lengthen'd every claw to rend,
And hunger whetted ev'ry tusk to kill;

From me, unarm'd, with hideous howling fled,
Aghast, deserted his defenceless prey,
As in V IRGINIAN woods I lonely stray'd,
On M IRA mus'd, and plann'd the plaintive lay.

Yes, lovely maid! ev'n here I feel thy pow'r,
Tho' kingdoms lie, and oceans rage between;
Revere thy virtues, all thy charms adore,
And wish thee present at each pleasant scene.

Wherever station'd by the will of heav'n,
On L YSIAN deserts, or on Z EMBLAN snows,
Wherever carry'd, or wherever driven,
Still shall thy absence number with my woes.