David Mallet

The Birks of Endermay

THE smiling Morn, the breathing Spring, 
Invite the tuneful Birds to sing: 
And while they warble from each Spray, 
Love melts the universal Lay. 
Let us, Amanda, timely wise, 
Like them improve the Hour that flies; 
And in soft Raptures waste the Day, 
Among the Birks of Endermay. 

For soon the Winter of the Year, 
And Age, Life’s Winter, will appear: 
At this, thy living Bloom will fade; 
As that will strip the verdant Shade. 
Our Taste of Pleasure then is o’er; 
The feather’d Songsters love no more: 
And when they droop, and we decay, 
Adieu the Birks of Endermay.