To Hope

O Muse bestow—nor think it vain
(While praise rebounds in just excess)
To a weak clown one single strain,
Fit and becoming hopes address,
For O in every grief we find
Her ready aid to cheer the mind.
Hail soothing hope recruiting power
In penitence and haples fate;
Assistant proof in latest hour
E'en thro the prisons gloomy grate
Where Culprits almost hopless grieve
Thy form will glimmer to reprieve.
Thro life thus far—(so cloth'd in stains
Of Motley troubles as it is)
Me thou hast chear'd and still remains
To point to shores of endless bliss,
Tho doom'd perhaps another way
Sweet hope endears the wisht essay.
Thou balmy bland enlivner hail
Or false or true to the distrest
Thy form will dart in sorrows vale
A thwarting joy on troubles breast.