Sonnet LXXXI
Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 2, The Second Edition
HE may be envied, who with tranquil breastCan wander in the wild and woodland scene,When Summer's glowing hands have newly drestThe shadowy forests, and the copses green;Who, unpursued by care, can pass his hoursWhere briony and woodbine fringe the trees,On thymy banks reposing, while the beesMurmur "their fairy tunes in praise of flowers;"Or on the rock with ivy clad, and fernThat overhangs the osier-whispering bedOf some clear current, bid his wishes turnFrom this bad world; and by calm reason led,Knows, in refined retirement, to possessBy friendship hallow'd—rural happiness!