O Solitude

O solitude, my sweetest choice! O solitude O solitude my sweetest, sweetest choice Places devoted to the night, Remote from tumult and from noise, How ye my restless thoughts delight! O solitude O solitude, my sweetest, sweetest choice! O heav'ns! What content is mine To see those trees, which have appear'd From the nativity of time, And which all ages have rever'd, To look today as fresh and green To look today as fresh and green As when their beauties were first seen. O, how agreeable a sight These hanging mountains do appear, Which th' unhappy would invite To finish all their sorrows here, When their hard, their hard fate makes them endure Such woes, such woes as only death can cure. O, how I solitude adore! O, how I solitude adore! That element of noblest wit, Where I have learnt, where I have learnt Apollo's lore, Without the pains, the pains to study it. For thy sake I in love am grown With what thy fancy, thy fancy does pursue; But when I think upon my own, I hate it, I hate it for that reason too, Because it needs must hinder me From seeing, from seeing and from serving thee. I solitude, O my solitude adore!