Full well I knew;
Nor is he, David, quite unknown to you;--
That Youth am I!--(with what surprize you gaze!)
Then was I blest indeed with golden days;
My parents' only child, at home I dwelt,
Indulged, caress'd, nor cares, nor wishes felt:
How did they joy my verses to peruse!
How praise each effort of my lisping Muse!
Then sweetly glided on the stream of time;
I tended flocks, or meditated rhyme.
Alas! my friend, those blissful hours are o'er,
My then-propitious stars now rule no more.
Long has my Father slept among the dead:--
With his last breath my joys, my hopes all fled.
The wealth he left, which might our woes have eased,
His greedy creditors unpitying seized:
My Mother and myself (our sole resource)
For livelihood to labour took recourse.