Where first my Muse to lisp her notes begun! 5

While pensive Memory traces back the round

Which fills the varied interval between,

Much pleasure, more of sorrow, marks the scene.

Sweet native stream! those skies and suns so pure

No more return, to cheer my evening road; 10

Yet still one joy remains—that not obscure,

Nor useless, all my vacant days have flowed,

From youth’s gay dawn to manhood’s prime mature,

Nor with the Muse’s laurel unbestowed.