The Poet’s New Year’s Gift. To Mrs. (Afterwards Lady) Throckmorton.

A poem by William Cowper

Maria! I have every good
For thee wish’d many a time,
Both sad, and in a cheerful mood,
But never yet in rhyme.


To wish thee fairer is no need,
More prudent, or more sprightly,
Or more ingenious, or more freed
From temper flaws unsightly.


What favour then not yet possess’d
Can I for thee require,
In wedded love already blest,
To thy whole heart’s desire?


None here is happy but in part;
Full bliss is bliss divine;
There dwells some wish in every heart,
And doubtless one in thine.


That wish on some fair future day,
Which fate shall brightly gild
(‘Tis blameless, be it what it may),
I wish it all fulfill’d.