poetry 9

LINES FROM THE DESERTED VILLAGE
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
Sweet auburn liveliest village of the plain
Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid
And parting summer lingering blooms delayed
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease
Seats of my youth when every sport could please
How often have i loitered thy green
Where humble happiness endear'd each scene 
How often have i paused on every charm
The sheltered cot the cultivated farm
The never failing brook the busy mill
The decent church the topped the neighboring 
The hawthorn bush with seats beneath the shade
For talking age and whispering lovers made
How often have i best the coming day
When toil remitting lent its turn to play
And all the village train from labor free
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree
Will many a pastime circled in the shade
The young contending as the old surveyed 
And many a gambol frolicked the ground
And sleights  of art and feats of strength went round
And still as each repeated pleasure tired
Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired 
The dancing pair that simply sought renown 
By holding out to tire each other down 
The swain mistrust less of his smutted face
While secret laughter tittered round the place
The bashful virgin side long looks of love
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove
These were thy charms sweet village sports like these
With sweet succession taught even toil please
These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed
These were thy charms but all these charms are fled
These were thy charms but all these charms are fled
I ares the land to hastening ills a prey
Where wealth accumulates and men decay
Princess and lords may flourish or may fade
A breath can make then as a breath has made
But a bold peasantry their country pride
When once destroyed can never be supplied.......