HAIL, melancholy sage! whose thoughtful eye, Shrunk from the mere spectator's careless gaze, And, in retirement sought the social smile, The heart-endearing aspect, and the voice Of soothing tenderness, which Friendship breathes, And which sounds far more grateful to the ear, Than the soft notes of distant flute at eve, Stealing across the waters: Zimmermann! Thou draw'st not Solitude as others do, With folded arms, with pensive, nun-like air, And tearful eye, averted from mankind. No! warm, benign, and cheerful, she appears The friend of Health, of Piety, and Peace; The kind Samaritan that heals our woes, The nurse of Science, and, of future fame The gentle harbinger: her meek abode Is that dear home, which still the virtuous heart, E'en in the witching maze of Pleasure's dance, In wild Ambition's dream, regards with love, And hopes, with fond security, to pass The evening of a long-protracted day, Serenely joyful, there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN STANZAS; HOOD'S LAST POEM by THOMAS HOOD MY LOST YOUTH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO CHARLOTTE PULTENEY [IN HER MOTHER'S ARMS] by AMBROSE PHILIPS INCIDENT AT BRUGES by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TO HIS HEART, BIDDING IT HAVE NO FEAR by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS CATHERINE TO GREGORY, THE POPE by MARY KATE BLAND |