Lines Written in Windsor Forest

By Alexander Pope

All hail, once pleasing, once inspiring shade!

Scene of my youthful loves and happier hours!

Where the kind Muses met me as I stray'd,

And gently press'd my hand, and said "Be ours!—

Take all thou e'er shalt have, a constant Muse:

At Court thou may'st be liked, but nothing gain:

Stock thou may'st buy and sell, but always lose,

And love the brightest eyes, but love in vain."

Lines Written in Windsor Forest : Letter to a Lady (Martha Blount) in Bowles, dated by Carruthers, September, 1717.