Page:The Hundred Best Poems (lyrical) in the English language - second series.djvu/87

 41.

I strove with none, for none were worth my strife, Nature I loved, and next to Nature, Art, I warmed both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

 42.

WHEN Love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, And my divine Althea brings To whisper at the grates; When I lie tangled in her hair And fetter'd to her eye, The birds that wanton in the air Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round With no allaying Thames, Our careless heads with roses crown'd Our hearts with loyal flames; When thirsty grief in wine we steep, When healths and draughts go tree Fishes that tipple in the deep Know no such liberty.

When, linnet-like confined, I With shriller throat shall sing The sweetness, mercy, majesty And glories of my King;  65