[Page 158]

TO Mr. Nicholas Clark.

Complaining of Vapors, OR, Disorders of the Head.

I.
1 TWAS in a Vale where Osyers grow
2 By murm'ring Streams we told our Woe,
3 And mingled all our Cares:
4 Friendship sat pleas'd in both our Eyes,
5 In both the weeping Dews arise
6 And drop alternate Tears.
[Page 159]
II.
7 The Vigorous Monarch of the Day
8 Now mounted half his Morning Way
9 Shone with a fainter Bright,
10 Still sickning and decaying still
11 Dimly he wander'd up the Hill
12 With his Expiring Light.
III.
13 In dark Eclipse his Chariot roll'd,
14 The Queen of Night obscur'd his Gold
15 Behind her Sable Wheels:
16 Nature grew sad to loose the Day,
17 The Flow'ry Vales in Mourning lay,
18 In Mourning stood the Hills.
IV.
19 Such are our Sorrows, CLARK, I cry'd,
20 Clouds of the Brain grow black, and hide
21 Our darkned Souls behind;
22 In the young Morning of our Years
23 Distempering Fogs have climb'd the Spheres,
24 And Choke the Lab'ring Mind.
[Page 160]
V.
25 Lo the Gay Planet rears his Head
26 And overlooks the Lofty Shade
27 New-bright'ning all the Skies,
28 But say, Dear Part'ner of my Moan,
29 When will our long Eclipse be gone,
30 Or when our Suns arise?
VI.
31 In vain are potent Herbs apply'd,
32 Harmonious Sounds in vain have try'd
33 To make the Darkness fly.
34 But Drugs would raise the Dead as soon,
35 Or clatt'ring Brass relieve the Moon,
36 When fainting in the Sky.
VII.
37 Some friendly Spirit from above,
38 Born of the Light, and nurs't with Love,
39 Assist our feebler Fires;
40 Force these Invading Glooms away;
41 Souls should be seen quite thro' their Clay
42 Bright as your Heavenly Choirs.
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VIII.
43 But if the Fogs must damp the Flame,
44 Gently, kind Death, dissolve our Frame,
45 Release the Prisoner-Mind:
46 Our Souls shall mount at thy Discharge
47 To their bright Source, and shine at large
48 Nor clouded, nor confin'd.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO Mr. Nicholas Clark.
Author: Isaac Watts
Themes:
Genres: address; ode

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Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748. Horæ lyricæ: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind. In two books. ... By I. Watts. London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey. MDCCVI., 1706, pp. 158-161. [20],267,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T82397; OTA K067329.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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