Classic Poem

TO A FAIR ARTISTE.

O, MISTRESS of that lovely art
Which can to shadows form impart —
Can fix those evanescent tints,
Fainter by far than lovers' hints,
And bring the scenes we love to mind,
When we have left them far behind, —
Thou seest an image in thy glass
Which does e'en Raphael's art surpass,
But which Dan Cupid has been able
To copy in my heart's soft table.
How proud 'twould make a connoisseur
To have so beauteous a picture!
For me, I own, it ill contents me
To have a copy, but torments me,
Unless I might possess, as well,
That copy's fair original.