Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/31

Book I. Where winning smiles and pleasures sweet as love, With sanctity and wisdom, temp'ring blend Their soft allurement. Then the pleasing force Of nature, and her kind parental care Worthier I'd sing: then all th' enamour'd youth, With each admiring virgin, to my lyre Should throng attentive, while I point on high Where beauty's living image, like the morn That wakes in Zephyr's arms the blushing May, Moves onward; or as Venus, when she stood Effulgent on the pearly car, and smil'd, Fresh from the deep, and conscious of her form, To see the Tritons tune their vocal shells, And each cœrulean sister of the flood With fond acclaim attend her o'er the waves, To seek th' Idalian bow'r. Ye smiling band Of youths and virgins, who thro' all the maze Of young desire with rival-steps pursue This charm of beauty; if the pleasing toil Can yield a moment's respite, hither turn Your favourable ear, and trust my words. I do not mean to wake the gloomy form Of Superstition drest in wisdom's garb, To damp your tender hopes; I do not mean To bid the jealous thund'rer fire the heav'ns, Or shapes infernal rend the groaning earth To fright you from your joys: my chearful song With better omens calls you to the field, Rh