Or, as Lear, I pour'd forth the deep imprecation,37 Ye dreams of my boyhood, how much I regret you! To Ida full oft may remembrance restore me, While fate shall the shades of the future unroll ! Since darkness o'ershadows the prospect before me, More dear is the beam of the past to my soul ! But if, through the course of the years which await me, 1806. TO M OH! did those eyes, instead of fire, For thou art form'd so heavenly fair, When Nature stamp'd thy beauteous birth, She fear'd that, too divine for earth, The skies might claim thee for their own: Therefore, to guard her dearest work, She bade a secret lightning lurk These might the boldest sylph appal, But who can dare thine ardent gaze? 'Tis said that Berenice's hair In stars adorns the vault of heaven; For did those eyes as planets roll, Thy sister-lights would scarce appear: E'en suns, which systems now control, Would twinkle dimly through their sphere.39 1806. TO WOMAN. WOMAN! experience might have told me But, placed in all thy charms before me, Oh memory! thou choicest blessing When join'd with hope, when still possessing; "Woman, thy vows are traced in sand." 40 TO M. S. G. WHEN I dream that you love me, you'll surely forgive; For in visions alone your affection can live, Then, Morpheus! envelope my faculties fast, Should the dream of to-night but resemble the last, What rapture celestial is mine! They tell us that slumber, the sister of death, Mortality's emblem is given; To fate how I long to resign my frail breath, If this be a foretaste of heaven! Ah! frown not, sweet lady, unbend your soft brow, If I sin in my dream, I atone for it now, Though in visions, sweet lady, perhaps you may smile, Oh! think not my penance deficient ! When dreams of your presence my slumbers beguile, To awake will be torture sufficient. TO MARY, ON RECEIVING HER PICTURE.41 THIS faint resemblance of thy charms, Revives my hopes and bids me live. Here I can trace the locks of gold Which round thy snowy forehead wave, The cheeks which sprung from beauty's mould, Here I can trace-ah, no! that eye, And bid him from the task retire.. Here I behold its beauteous hue; But where's the beam so sweetly straying, 42 Which gave a lustre to its blue, Like Luna o'er the ocean playing? Sweet copy far more dear to me, Than all the living forms could be, She placed it, sad, with needless fear, Lest time might shake my wavering soul, Unconscious that her image there Held every sense in fast control. Through hours, through years, through time, 'twill cheer, My hope, in gloomy moments, raise; In life's last conflict 'twill appear, And meet my fond expiring gaze. TO LESBIA. LESBIA! since far from you I've ranged, Your polish'd brow no cares have crost; Sixteen was then our utmost age, Two years have lingering past away, love! And now new thoughts our minds engage, At least I feel disposed to stray, love! 'Tis I that am alone to blame, I, that am guilty of love's treason; I do not, love! suspect your truth, No, no, my flame was not pretended; No more we meet in yonder bowers; Your cheek's soft bloom is unimpair'd, Arm'd thus, to make their bosoms bleed, LINES ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY. [As the author was discharging his pistols in a garden, two ladies passing near the spot were alarmed by the sound of a bullet hissing near them; to one of whom the following stanzas were addressed the next morning.]43 DOUBTLESS, Sweet girl! the hissing lead, Wafting destruction o'er thy charms, 44 Has fill'd that breast with fond alarms. |