Feeble
I am old, my eyesight is failing
but not my
knowledge
The blurring of my eyesight
is merely your
wisdom
(blurred.)
(sigh!...)
(reading e. e. cummings,
feasting on Robert Frost and Gustave Flaubert,
in Homer's apple orchard)
WILLIAM THOMPSON (1712-1766)
THE HAPPY LIFE
A book, a friend, a song, a glass,
A chaste, yet laughter-loving lass,
To mortals various joys impart,
Inform the sense, and warm the heart.
Thrice happy they, who careless laid
Beneath a kind-embowering shade,
With rosy wreaths their temples crown,
In rosy wine their sorrow drown.
Begone, ambition, riches, toys,
And splendid cares, and guilty joys--
Give me a book, a friend, a glass,
And a chaste, laughter-loving lass.
