Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/23

B. I. That thro' the thirsty channels of the blood A smooth diluted chyle may ever flow. The fragrant dairy from its cool recess Its nectar acid or benign will pour To drown your thirst; or let the mantling bowl Of keen Sherbet the fickle taste relieve. For with the viscous blood the simple stream Will hardly mingle; and fermented cups Oft dissipate more moisture than they give. Yet when pale seasons rise, or winter rolls His horrors o'er the world, thou may'st indulge In feasts more genial, and impatient broach The mellow cask. Then too the scourging air Provokes to keener toils than sultry droughts Allow. But rarely we such skies blaspheme. Steep'd in continual rains, or with raw fogs Bedew'd, our seasons droop; incumbent still A ponderous heaven o'erwhelms the sinking soul. Rh