Ode to Good-Humor

aid of the sweet, engaging smile!Companion of our hours of peace!Whose soothing arts can care beguile,And bid discordant passions cease;Virtue in thee her favorite hails,And dwells where’er thy sway prevails,Life’s fairest charms to thee we owe,The source of pure delight, the healing balm of woe!

Can rapture thrill congenial hearts,Entwined by Friendship’s wreath divine?If aught of bliss its bond imparts,The praise, enchanting maid! be thine.Can we a soft attractive graceIn the bright beam of Beauty trace?’Tis only when with thee combined,Her powers can justly claim the homage of the mind!

When the first pair in Eden’s bowerEnjoyed the favoring smile of Heaven,Thy influence brightened every flower,And blessed the balmy breeze of even.And since in Love’s connubial ties,We best can learn thy sweets to prize,

’Tis in affection’s fond domain,Where still unruffled joys denote thy golden reign.

Deprived of thee, does earth possessOne charm to bind us here below?In vain may pomp and power caress,Or wealth its glittering gifts bestow.Lost is their worth when thou art fled,When Discord lifts her sceptre dread,And pallid Envy, Care, and StrifeUnite their darkening clouds to veil the noon of life.

But when thy welcome steps appear,This dreaded train of evil flies,Gay Cheerfulness is ever near,And calm Content with placid eyes;And all that to the soul endearsThis dreary wilderness of years,All that our happiest hours employ,When beats the willing heart to transport and to joy.

Where’er I tread this varied scene,Good-Humor! on my path attend;Alike when pleasure smiles serene,Or pain and grief my bosom rend,Do thou infuse thy sovereign power,In youth’s gay morn, in manhood’s hour,Or when, in age, life’s parting rayBut faintly lingers low ere yet it fades away!