William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Song: My days have been so wondrous freeThomas Parnell (16791718)
M
The little birds that fly
With careless ease from tree to tree,
Were but as bless’d as I.
Of mine increas’d their stream?
Or ask the flying gales, if e’er
I lent one sigh to them?
And I’m by beauty caught,
The tender chains of sweet desire
Are fix’d upon my thought.
Ye swains that haunt the grove!
Ye gentle echoes, breezy winds!
Ye close retreats of love!
Assist the dear design;
O teach a young, unpractis’d heart,
To make my Nancy mine.
As much as of despair;
Nor ever covet to be great,
Unless it be for her.
Is mix’d with soft distress;
Yet while the fair I love is kind,
I cannot wish it less.