The Poetical Works of William Motherwell/Affectest Thou the Pleasures of the Shade?
Affectest Thou the Pleasures of the Shade?
Affectest thou the pleasures of the shade,
And pastoral customs of the olden time,
When gentle shepherd piped to gentle maid
On oaten reed, his quaint and antique rhyme?
Then welcome to the green and mossy nook,
The forest dark and silver poppling brook,
And flowers in fragrant indolence that blossom
On the sequestered valley's sloping bosom—
Where in the leafy halls glad strains are pealing,
The woodland songsters' amorous thoughts revealing:
Look how the morning's eager kisses wake
The clouds that guard the Orient, blushing red—
Behold heaven's phantom-chasing Sovereign shake
The golden honours of his graceful head
Above that earth his day-dawn saw so fair!—
Now damsels lithe trip lightsomely away,
To bathe their clustered brows and bosoms bare
In virgin dews of budding, balmy May!