William Cowper

26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800 / Hertfordshire

Lines. Oh! To Some Distant Scene

Oh! to some distant scene, a willing exile
From the wild roar of this busy world,
Were it my fate with Delia to retire,
With her to wander through the sylvan shade,
Each morn, or o'er the moss-embrowned turf,
Where, blest as the prime parents of mankind
In their own Eden, we should envy none,
But, greatly pitying whom the world calls happy
Gently spin out the silken thread of life!
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