But if with Fancy's visioned fears, With dreams of woe, your bosom thrill, You look so lovely in your tears That I must bid you drop them still! SONG. HAVE you not seen the timid tear To you my soul's affections move My life has been a task of love, THE SHIELD. OH! did you not hear a voice of death? Was it a wailing bird of the gloom, Which shrieks on the house of woe all night? Or a shivering fiend that flew to a tomb, To howl and to feed till the glance of light? 'Twas not the death-bird's cry from the wood, Nor shivering fiend that hung in the blast; 'Twas the shade of Helderic-man of bloodIt screams for the guilt of days that are past! See! how the red, red lightning strays, And scares the gliding ghosts of the heath! Now on the leafless yew it plays, Where hangs the shield of this son of death! That shield is blushing with murderous stains; Long has it hung from the cold yew's spray; It is blown by storms and washed by rains, But neither can take the blood away! Oft by that yew, on the blasted field, Demons dance to the red moon's light; While the damp boughs creak, and the swinging shield ELEGIAC STANZAS, SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY JULIA, ON THE DEATH OF HER BROTHER. THOUGH Sorrow long has worn my heart; Though in my earliest life bereft Though hope deceived, and pleasure left; I still had hopes-for hope will stay So like the star which ushers day We scarce can think it heralds night! I hoped that, after all its strife, My weary heart at length should rest. Find harbour in a brother's breast. That brother's breast was warm with truth, He should have stayed, have lingered here, We saw his youthful soul expand In blooms of genius, nursed by taste; In friendship firm, in love sincere. Such was the youth we loved so well; Close as the fondest links could strain, A NIGHT THOUGHT. How oft a cloud, with envious veil, 'Tis thus the world's obtrusive wrongs ELEGIAC STANZAS. WHEN wearied wretches sink to sleep, Saw you the soft and grassy bed, Where flowerets deck the green earth's breast? 'Tis there I wish to lay my head, 'Tis there I wish to sleep at rest! Oh! let not tears embalm my tomb, None but the dews by twilight given! Oh! let not sighs disturb the gloom, None but the whispering winds of heaven! THE KISS. GROW to my lip, thou sacred kiss, On which my soul's beloved swore When she would mock my hopes no more; In sighs at morn, and dreams at night, Oh! let her all impassioned sink, ΤΟ WITH all my soul, then, let us part, 'Tis not that I expect to find A more devoted, fond, and true one, With rosier cheek or sweeter mindEnough for me that she's a new one. Thus let us leave the bower of love, Where we have loitered long in bliss; And you may down that pathway rove, While I shall take my way through this. Our hearts have suffered little harm Her spells with your remembered charms As one that used to talk of bliss!" Farewell and when some future lover Shall claim the heart which I resign, And in exulting joys discover All the charms that once were mine; I think I should be sweetly blest, A REFLECTION AT SEA. SEE how, beneath the moonbeam's smile, And murmuring then subsides to rest. A CHALLENGE. COME, tell me where the maid is found, Oh! tell me where's her sainted home, A pilgrimage of years I'll roam To catch one sparkle of her eye! And if her cheek be rosy bright, While truth within her bosom lies, I'll gaze upon her morn and night, Till my heart leave me through my eyes! Show me on earth a thing so rare, I'll own all miracles are true; To make one maid sincere and fair, Oh 'tis the utmost Heaven can do! SONG. IF I swear by that eye, you'll allow Those babies that nestle so sly Such different arrows have got Should I swear by the dew on your lip, I may kiss off the oath when I choose! |