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CANTO THE FIRSTIV
He comes at last in sudden loneliness,
And whence they know not, why they need not guess;
They more might marvel, when the greeting`s o`er,
Not that he came, but came not long before:
No train is his beyond a single page,
Of foreign aspect, and of tender age.
Years had roll`d on, and fast they speed away
To those that wander as to those that stay;
But lack of tidings from another clime
Had lent a flagging wing to weary Time.
They see, they recognise, yet almost deem
The present dubious, or the past a dream.
He lives, nor yet is past his manhood`s prime,
Though sear`d by toil, and something touch`d by time;
His faults, whate`er they were, if scarce forgot,
Might be untaught him by his varied lot;
Nor good nor ill of late were known, his name
Might yet uphold his patrimonial fame.
His soul in youth was haughty, but his sins
No more than pleasure from the stripling wins;
And such, if not yet harden`d in their course,
Might be redeem`d, nor ask a long remorse.
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