Henry Livingston

BEYOND where billows roll or tempests vex
Is gone the gentlest of the gentle sex!
---Her brittle bark on life’s wild ocean tost
Unequal to the conflict soon was lost.…

A FableIn long gone years a fox and crane
Were bound in friendship’s golden chain;
Whene’er they met, the fox would bow
And madame Crane would curtsie low-…

My very good landlady, Mistress Van Kleeck,
(For the tears that o’erwhelm me I scarcely can speak)
I know that I promis’d you hogs two or three
(But who knows his destiny? Certain not me!)…

A FableA vine from noblest lineage sprung
And with the choicest clusters hung,
In purple rob’d, reclining lay,
And catch’d the noontide’s fervid ray;…

Master Timmy brisk and airy
Blythe as Oberon the fairy
On thy head thy cousin wishes
Thousand and ten thousand blisses.…

”Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;…

Her little bark on Life's wide Ocean tossed,
In the unequal struggle soon was lost,
Severe its conflict! Much alas it bore,
Then sunk beneath the storm and rose no more.…

Ev'ry grace in her combine,
Love and truth and friendship join,
In one source without reserve,
Zealous all her friends to serve,…

’Twas summer, when softly the breezes were blowing,
And Hudson majestic so sweetly was flowing,
The groves rang with music & accents of pleasure
And nature in rapture beat time to the measure,…

The legislators pass along
A solemn, self-important throng!
Just raised from the common mass,
They feel themselves another class.…

To my little niece Sally Livingston, on the death of a little serenading wren she admired.Hasty pilgrim stop thy pace
Turn a moment to this place
Read what pity hath erected
To a songster she respected.…

With the ladies’ permission, most humbly I’d mention
How much we’re obliged by all their attention;
We sink with the weight of the huge obligation
Too long & too broad to admit compensation.…

On this thy natal day permit a friend -
A brother - with thy joys his own to blend:
In all gladness he would wish to share
As willing in thy griefs a part to bear.Meekly attend the ways of higher heav’n!…

Letter to my Brother Beekman,
who then lived with Mr. Schenk
at New Lebanon - 1786To my dear brother Beekman I sit down to write
Ten minutes past eight & a very cold night.…

HORACE.While I was pleasing to your arms,
Nor any youth, of happier charms,
Thy snowy bosom blissful prest,
Not Portia's like me was blest.LYDIA.While for no other fair you burn'd,…

Believe me, dear patrons, I have wand’red too far,
Without any compass, or planet or star;
My dear native village I scarcely can see
So I’ll hie to my hive like the tempest-tost bee.…

TombstoneI fondly nursed an opening rose,
And view'd its beauties every day;
But ah! a withering storm arose
And swept my lovely flower away.

To his charming black-eyed niece
Uncle Harry wishest peace!
Wishes roses over strow’d
O’er her sublunary road!No rude winds around her howl,…

Hail sov’reign love that first began,
The scheme to rescue fallen man;
Hail matchless, free, eternal grace,
That gave my soul a Hiding-Place.Against the God that rules the sky,…

I rise when I please, when I please I lie down,
Nor seek, what I care not a rush for, renown;
The rattle called wealth I have learnt to despise,
Nor aim to be either important or wise.Let women & children & children-like men…

A gentle spirit now above
Once animated what lies here
Till heav’n announc’d in tenderest love
”Ascend Immortal to yon sphere.”The lambkin at the great behest…