Fabio ! the courtier’s hopes are chains that wind
With fatal strength around the ambitious mind;
And he who breaks or files them not away,
Till life ebbs from him, or his locks turn gray,
Nor feels, methinks, a freeman’s generous fires,
Nor wins the honor that his soul desires.
Rather than fall, the timid may remain
In base suspense, and still caress the chain ;
But noble hearts their fate will sooner face,
And, ere they stoop to bondage, hail disgrace.
Such storms roar round us with the earliest sigh
Heaved from our cradles, – leave them to pass by,
Like the proud Botis, whose impetuous wave,
Spread from the mountains, soon forgets to rave.
Not he who gains, but who deserves the prize,
Is classed with heroes by the great and wise ;
But there, where state from flattery takes the word,
On skilful favorites see all place conferred ; –
Gold, crime, intrigue, their path obliquely wind
Through the thick crowd, and leave the good behind.
Who trusts for power to virtue? virtue still
Yields to the strong supremacy of ill.
Come, then, – once more to the maternal seat
Of ancient Seville guide thy weary feet;
This clime, these skies, shall every care serene,
And make thy future what the past has been ; –
Here, where, at least, if dust falls on us, nigh
Kind lips will whisper, “Lightly may it lie!”
Here, where my friend no angry look shall cast,
Nor rise unsated from the noon’s repast,
Though no rare peacock on my board be seen,
Nor spicy turtle grace the gold tureen.
Come, seek soft quiet, as at dead of night
The AEgean pilot hails his watchtower’s light ;
Then, if some old court-friend, as wit requires,
Smile at thy modest home and curbed desires,
Thou, smiling too, shall say, u I live possessed
Of all I sought for, and despise the rest! ”
Safe in her simple nest of moss to brood,
And talk to Echo in her wildest wood,
More charms the nightingale, than, caged, to cheer
With flattering songs a monarch’s curious ear,
Trellised in gold. Cease, then, thine anxious care
And thirst for office, -shun the insidious snare;
The idol of thy daily sacrifice
Accepts the incense, but the grant denies,
Smiling in secret at thy dreams; but bound
Thy restless hopes to life’s restricted round,
And thou shall pine no more from day to day,
Nor fret thy manhood unimproved away.
For what is life? at best, a brief delight ;
A sun scarce brightening, ere it sets in night ;
A flower, – at morning fresh, at noon decayed ;
A still, swift river, gliding into shade.
Shall it be said, that, with true peace at strife,
I, even whilst living, lose the zest of life?
Ask of the past its fruits, – the past is dumb ;
And have I surety for the good to come?
No ! seeing, then, how fast our years consume,
Ere age comes on and tints us for the tomb,
In the calm shade let sober thoughts supply
Their moral charm, and teach us how to die.
Passed is the vernal leaf, the summer rose,
Autumn’s sweet grapes, and winter’s fleecy snows;
All fades, all fleets, whilst we still lire at ease
On idle hopes and airy reveries.
With me? is o’er ! me Reason calls away,
And warms ray bosom with her sacred ray ;
I go, my friend, – I follow where she calls,-
I leave the illusion which thy soul inthralls,
Content to walk with those who nobly claim
To lire at ease, and die without a name.
The Eastern tyrant, who so proudly shines,
And hoards in towers the wealth of various mines,
Has scarce enough for crimes that quickly pall;
Virtue coats less, – within the reach of all.
Poor is the man that roves o’er lands and seas
In chase of treasures that soon cease to please ;
Me smaller things suffice, – a simple seat
‘Midst my loved Lares in some green retreat,-
A book, – a friend, – and slumbers that declare
A tranquil bliss and vacancy from care.
In dress the people’s choice would I obey,-
In manners only more refined than they,-
Free from the brilliant hues, the glittering lace,
That gives the stage-musician all his grace.
Modest my style of life, -nor mean, nor high,
To fix the notice of the passer-by ;
And if no myrrhine cup nor porcelain vase
Shine on my board to draw the guests’ applause,
The Etruscan jug, or maple bowl, at worst,
Can hold the wine that soothes my summer thirst.
Not that in writing thus I would pretend
To practise all the good I recommend; –
This would I do, and Heaven its aid supplies
Still to press on, and scorn the shows of vice.
But not at once its fruit the vine receives ;
First spring the flowers, the tendrils, and the leaves ;
Then the young grape, – austere, till mellowing noons
To perfect nectar turn the tinged festoons:
As gradual grows each habit that survives
To rule, compose, and charm our little lives.
But Heaven forbid I e’er should ape the airs
Of [he grim stoics that disturb our squares,
Truth’s tragic mountebanks, content to live
On the poor praise a mob consents to give :
No ! as through canes and reeds the breezes roar,
But mildly whisper on the thymy more,
Sweet-breathing as they pass, – Pride’s vacant throng
Bluster where Virtue meekly steals along.
Tim- would I live ; and silent thus may Death
Sound the mild call that steals away my breath,-
Not with the thunder that salutes the great; –
No burnished metals grace my lowly gate !
‘T is thus I seem to hare obtained, in sooth,
The very essence and the zest of truth.
Smile not, my friend, nor think that I confide
In painted words, the eloquence of pride, –
That brooding study the grave strain inspires.
That fancy only fills me with her fires.
Is Virtue’s less than Error’s force? declare ;
Her smile less winning, and her face less fair?
And I, whilst Anger on the tented plain,
Pride in the court, and Avarice on the main,
Each hour face death, – shall I not tempt the
wings Of nobler motives, fraught with brighter things :
Yes ! surely, yes ! Thou, too, escape, and join
Thy thoughts, thy manners, and thy life with mine :
Freed from thy chains, come, follow, and acquire
That perfect good to which our souls aspire ;
Ere with us Wisdom lose her tranquil charms.
And Time, late cherished, die within our arms.
(Francisco de Rioja)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Faces Poems, Youth Poems, Fairness Poems, Dreams Poems, Friendship PoemsBased on Keywords: aegean, tented, seville, favorites, trellised, consents, classed, thymy, intrigue, unsated, restricted