<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472285" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Edwin and Angela, A Ballad</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Turn, gentle hermit of the dale,<br>And guide my lonely way,<br>To where yon taper cheers the vale<br>With hospitable ray.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'For here, forlorn and lost I tread, <br>With fainting steps and slow;<br>Where wilds immeasurably spread,<br>Seem length'ning as I go.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Forbear, my son,' the hermit cries,<br>'To tempt the dangerous gloom; <br>For yonder faithless phantom flies<br>To lure thee to thy doom.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Here to the houseless child of want<br>My door is open still;<br>And though my portion is but scant, <br>I give it with good will.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Then turn to-night, and freely share<br>Whate'er my cell bestows;<br>My rushy couch, and frugal fare,<br>My blessing and repose. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'No flocks that range the valley free<br>To slaughter I condemn:<br>Taught by that power that pities me,<br>I learn to pity them.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But from the mountain's grassy side <br>A guiltless feast I bring;<br>A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied,<br>And water from the spring.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Then, pilgrim, turn, thy cares forgo;<br>All earth-born cares are wrong: <br>Man wants but little here below,<br>Nor wants that little long.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Soft as the dew from heav'n descends,<br>His gentle accents fell:<br>The modest stranger lowly bends, <br>And follows to the cell.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Far in a wilderness obscure<br>The lonely mansion lay;<br>A refuge to the neighbouring poor<br>And strangers led astray. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">No stores beneath its humble thatch<br>Requir'd a master's care;<br>The wicket, opening with a latch,<br>Receiv'd the harmless pair.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And now, when busy crowds retire <br>To take their evening rest,<br>The hermit trimm'd his little fire,<br>And cheer'd his pensive guest:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And spread his vegetable store,<br>And gaily press'd, and smil'd; <br>And, skill'd in legendary lore,<br>The lingering hours beguil'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Around in sympathetic mirth<br>Its tricks the kitten tries;<br>The cricket chirrups in the hearth; <br>The crackling fag got flies.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But nothing could a charm impart<br>To soothe the stranger's woe;<br>For grief was heavy at his heart,<br>And tears began to flow. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">His rising cares the hermit spied,<br>With answ'ring care oppress'd;<br>'And whence, unhappy youth,' he cried,<br>'The sorrows of thy breast?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'From better habitations spurn'd, <br>Reluctant dost thou rove;<br>Or grieve for friendship unreturn'd,<br>Or unregarded love?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Alas! the joys that fortune brings<br>Are trifling, and decay; <br>And those who prize the paltry things,<br>More trifling still than they.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And what is friendship but a name,<br>A charm that lulls to sleep;<br>A shade that follows wealth or fame, <br>But leaves the wretch to weep?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And love is still an emptier sound,<br>The modern fair one's jest:<br>On earth unseen, or only found<br>To warm the turtle's nest. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'For shame, fond youth, thy sorrows hush,<br>And spurn the sex,' he said:<br>But, while he spoke, a rising blush<br>His love-lorn guest betray'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Surpris'd, he sees new beauties rise, <br>Swift mantling to the view;<br>Like colours o'er the morning skies,<br>As bright, as transient too.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bashful look, the rising breast,<br>Alternate spread alarms: <br>The lovely stranger stands confess'd<br>A maid in all her charms.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And, ah! forgive a stranger rude,<br>A wretch forlorn,' she cried;<br>'Whose feet unhallow'd thus intrude <br>Where heaven and you reside.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But let a maid thy pity share,<br>Whom love has taught to stray;<br>Who seeks for rest, but finds despair<br>Companion of her way. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'My father liv'd beside the Tyne,<br>A wealthy lord was he;<br>And all his wealth was mark'd as mine,<br>He had but only me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'To win me from his tender arms <br>Unnumber'd suitors came;<br>Who prais'd me for imputed charms,<br>And felt or feign'd a flame.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Each hour a mercenary crowd<br>With richest proffers strove: <br>Amongst the rest young Edwin bow'd,<br>But never talk'd of love.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'In humble, simplest habit clad,<br>No wealth nor power had he;<br>Wisdom and worth were all he had, <br>But these were all to me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And when beside me in the dale<br>He caroll'd lays of love;<br>His breath lent fragrance to the gale,<br>And music to the grove. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'The blossom opening to the day,<br>The dews of heaven refin'd,<br>Could nought of purity display,<br>To emulate his mind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'The dew, the blossom on the tree, <br>With charms inconstant shine;<br>Their charms were his, but woe to me!<br>Their constancy was mine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'For still I tried each fickle art,<br>Importunate and vain: <br>And while his passion touch'd my heart,<br>I triumph'd in his pain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Till quite dejected with my scorn,<br>He left me to my pride;<br>And sought a solitude forlorn, <br>In secret, where he died.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But mine the sorrow, mine the fault,<br>And well my life shall pay;<br>I'll seek the solitude he sought,<br>And stretch me where he lay. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And there forlorn, despairing, hid,<br>I'll lay me down and die;<br>'Twas so for me that Edwin did,<br>And so for him will I.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Forbid it, heaven!' the hermit cried, <br>And clasp'd her to his breast:<br>The wondering fair one turn'd to chide,<br>'Twas Edwin's self that prest.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Turn, Angelina, ever dear,<br>My charmer, turn to see <br>Thy own, thy long-lost Edwin here,<br>Restor'd to love and thee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Thus let me hold thee to my heart,<br>And ev'ry care resign;<br>And shall we never, never part, <br>My life - my all that's mine?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'No, never from this hour to part,<br>We'll live and love so true;<br>The sigh that rends thy constant heart<br>Shall break thy Edwin's too.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Oliver+Goldsmith">Oliver Goldsmith</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=472285" data-title="Edwin and Angela, A Ballad de Oliver Goldsmith" data-description="'Turn, gentle hermit of the dale, And guide my lonely way, To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray. 'For here, forlorn and lost I tread, With fainting steps and slow; Where wilds immeasurably spread, Seem length'ning as I go.' 'F..."></div> </div> </div>

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