I FEEL that I’m possess’d of nought,

Fain I’d be a man to-day,Yet ’tis hard, oh, hard to bear!Mournful in an hour like thisIs love’s sweetest pledge, I ween;Cold upon thy mouth the kiss,Faint thy fingers’ pressure e’en.Oh what rapture to my heartUsed each stolen kiss to bring!As the violets joy impart,Gather’d in the early spring.Now no garlands I entwine,Now no roses…

On the meadowWhere the cooling water gushes.Phoebus gave me, when a boy,All life’s fullness to enjoy.So, in silence, as the GodBade them with his sov’reign nod,Sacred Muses train’d my daysTo his praise.–With the bright and silv’ry floodOf Parnassus stirr’d my blood,And the seal so pure and chasteBy them on my lips was placed.With her modest…

Ah, the lip that erst so many rapturesUsed to taste, and used to give responsive,Now is cloven, and it pains me sorely;And it is not thus severely woundedBy my mistress having caught me fiercely,And then gently bitten me, intendingTo secure her friend more firmly to her:No, my tender lip is crack’d thus, onlyBy the winds,…

By a modest draught inspired,Singing, like a monarch livest!Thou possessest as thy portionAll that on the plains thou seest,All that by the hours is brought thee‘Mongst the husbandmen thou livest,As a friend, uninjured by them,Thou whom mortals love to honour,Herald sweet of sweet Spring’s advent!Yes, thou’rt loved by all the Muses,Phoebus’ self, too, needs must…

And on my staff reclining,Look down on the smiling land.My grazing flocks then I follow,My dog protecting them well;I find myself in the valley,But how, I scarcely can tell.The whole of the meadow is cover’dWith flowers of beauty rare;I pluck them, but pluck them unknowingTo whom the offering to bear.In rain and storm and tempest,I…

Nought in God’s presence changeth e’er,–Love him, for this one moment, then, in me.