Sonnet LXXVIII

Sophia tempts me to her social walls,

That 'mid the vast Metropolis arise,

Where Splendor dazzles, and each Pleasure vies

In soft allurement; and each Science calls

To philosophic Domes, harmonious Halls,

And storied Galleries. With duteous sighs,

Filial and kind, and with averted eyes,

I meet the gay temptation, as it falls

From a seducing pen.—Here—here I stay,

Fix'd by Affection's power; nor entertain

One latent wish, that might persuade to stray

From my ag'd Nurseling, in his life's dim wane;

But, like the needle, by the magnet's sway,

My constant, trembling residence maintain.