Читать книгу The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith - Оливер Голдсмит - Страница 12

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Where all the ruddy family around

Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,

Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale, 20

Or press the bashful stranger to his food,

And learn the luxury of doing good.

But me, not destin'd such delights to share,

My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care,

Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue 25

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view;

That, like the circle bounding earth and skies,

Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies;

My fortune leads to traverse realms alone,

And find no spot of all the world my own. 30

E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,

I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;

And, plac'd on high above the storm's career,

Look downward where a hundred realms appear;

Lakes, forests, cities, plains, extending wide, 35

The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride.

When thus Creation's charms around combine,

Amidst the store, should thankless pride repine?

Say, should the philosophic mind disdain

That good, which makes each humbler bosom vain? 40

Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can,

These little things are great to little man;

And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind

Exults in all the good of all mankind.

Ye glitt'ring towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd, 45

Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round,

Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale,

Ye bending swains, that dress the flow'ry vale,