Soft smiling Hope! thou anchor of the mind!
The only resting-place the wretched find;
How dost thou all our anxious cares beguile!
And make the orphan, and the friendless smile.
All fly to thee, thou gentle dawn of peace!
The coward's fortitude, the brave's success,
The lover's ease, the captive's liberty,
The only flatt'rer of the poor and me.
With thee, on pleasure's wings, thro' life we're born,
Without thee, wretched, friendless, and forlorn.
Possest of thee, the weary pilgrim strays
Thro' barren desarts, and untrodden ways:
Thirsty and faint, his nerves new vigour strings,
And full of thee he quaffs immortal springs.
The martyr'd saint, whom anguish and the rod
Have prov'd, thro' thee walks worthy of his God.
In vain are axes, flames, and tort'ring wheels;
He feels no torment, who no terrour feels:
Thro' thee his well-try'd spirit upward springs,
And spurns at titles, scepters, thrones, and kings.