Oliver, Daniel Poem, "To a young Friend"
High-resolution images are available to schools and libraries via subscription to American History, 1493-1943. Check to see if your school or library already has a subscription. Or click here for more information. You may also order a pdf of the image from us here.
Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC01450.313 Author/Creator: Oliver, Daniel Place Written: s.l. Type: Manuscript Date: 1751 Pagination: 3 p. Order a Copy
[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
To a Young Friend
Should smiling Joys on all thy Steps attend,
And Health to Monarchs coy, be Strephon's Friend;
Gay should thy Humour be, Serene thy Brow,
And, easy as thy Thoughts, thy Minutes flow;
Yet more, should Fame, adopting thee her Son,
With partial Hand, thy wildest wishes crown,
And promise to thy Mem'ry late Renown:
While at thy Feet the Earth and Ocean lay
Their Wealth, and glittering Heaps choak up thy Way,
Say...Would it not disturb thy mirthful Vein?
O'erturn the foolish Babel of thy Brain?
The feeble Charm dissolve of human Praise,
And with grim Phantoms haunt thy genial Days,
Should e'er this Thought intrude, the Drudge and I.
[2]
And ev'ry hapless Wight alike must die:
They from a weary March, and toilsome Strife,
By Death discharg'd shall cease to suffer Life;
I, what I love, must quit, and when the Sun
A fen times more its shining Course hath run,
Down to the melancholy Coasts must go,
Which, nor his Morning Beams, nor Ev'ning, know,
Where Musick's soothing Voice (tho Fables tell,
That ORFEUS once could charm the Shades of Hell)
And the loud Trump of Fame are never heard,
The he[inserted: a]vy, leaden, Gates by silence bar'd:
Silence, which, banish'd to those dre'ry Plains,
O'er the wide waste in peaceful Terror reins,
'Tis, thither, my [unmeeting] Feet, ye attend,
And there alas! must all Lifes Mocke'ry end.
Thence folded up in Sleep, I neer shall rise,
Till the last Summons shakes the vaulted Skies.
[3]
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
None so blind as those that will not see.
Daniel Oliver 1751.
Citation Guidelines for Online Resources
The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.