Poem by Mary Robinson

Stanzas to Time

CAPRICIOUS foe to human joy,
Still varying with the fleeting day;
With thee the purest raptures cloy,
The fairest prospects fade away;
Nor worth, nor pow’r thy wings can bind,
All earthly pleasures fly with THEE;
Inconstant as the wav’ring wind
That plays upon the summer sea. 

I court thee not, ungentle guest,
For I have e’er been doom’d to find
Life’s gayest hours but idly drest,
With sweets that pall the sick’ning mind:
When smiling HOPE with placid mien,
Around my couch did fondly play;
Too oft thy a”ery form I’ve seen,
On DOWNY pinions glide away. 

But when, perplex’d with pain or care,
My couch with THORNS was scatter’d round;
When the pale priestess of DESPAIR
My mind in fatal spells had bound; 
When the dull hours no joy could bring,
No bliss my weary fancy prove;
I mark’d thy leaden, pond’rous wing,
With TARDY pace, unkindly move. 

IF SUCH THY GIFTS, O Time! for thee
My sated heart shall ne’er repine;
I bow content to FATE’S decree,
And with thy thorns thy roses twine;
Yet e’er thy fickle reign shall end,
The balmy sweets of FRIENDSHIP’S hour,
I’ll with my cup of sorrow blend,
And smile, REGARDLESS OF THY POW’R.

1. Sonnet 40. On the Low Margin
2. Stanzas Written under an Oak in Windsor Forest
3. Male Fashions for 1799
4. Sonnet 41. Yes, I Will Go
5. Ode to Envy

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