Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO MR. GAY, WHO WROTE HIM A CONGRATULATORY LETTER ON FINISHING HOUSE, by ALEXANDER POPE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO MR. GAY, WHO WROTE HIM A CONGRATULATORY LETTER ON FINISHING HOUSE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah, friend! 'tis true - this truth you lovers know
Last Line: Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away.
Subject(s): Gay, John (1685-1732); Houses; Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley (1689-1762)


(ON THE FINISHING OF HIS HOUSE)

Ah friend, 'tis true -- this truth you lovers know --
In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow,
In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes
Of hanging mountains, and of sloping greens:
Joy lives not here; to happier seats it flies,
And only dwells where WORTLEY casts her eyes.

What are the gay parterre, the chequer'd shade,
The morning bower, the ev'ning colonade,
But soft recesses of uneasy minds,
To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds?

So the struck deer in some sequester'd part
Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart;
There, stretch'd unseen in coverts hid from day,
Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away.





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