The WISH. James Merrick Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.005 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. V. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 219-220. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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The WISH . By the Same . HOW short is life's uncertain space ! Alas ! how quickly done ! How swift the wild precarious chace ! And yet how difficult the race ! How very hard to run ! Youth stops at first its wilful ears To Wisdom's prudent voice ; Till now arriv'd to riper years , Experienc'd age worn out with cares Repents its earlier choice . What though its prospects now appear So pleasing and refin'd ; Yet groundless hope , and anxious fear , By turns the busy moments share , And prey upon the mind . Since then false joys our fancy cheat With hopes of real bliss ; Ye guardian pow'rs that rule my fate , The only wish that I create , Is all compris'd in this . May I through life's uncertain tide , Be still from pain exempt ; May all my wants be still supply'd , My state too low t' admit of pride , And yet above contempt . But should your Providence divine A greater bliss intend ; May all those blessings you design , ( If e'er those blessings shall be mine ) Be center'd in a friend .