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To a Friend in Love

In vain, my Damon , you look pale, and write,
Languish all Day, and sigh away the Night;
For while these inconsistent Forms you try,
She thinks you rival her Inconstancy.
Then show the Man again, and re-assume
The sprightly Pride of One-and-twenty's Bloom:
With Courage take her in your longing Arms,
And when she's conquer'd, she must yield her Charms.

L ONG thus in borrow'd Shapes Vertumnus strove
To cheat the fair Pomona into Love;
Yet still he try'd his Fallacies in vain,

To Amoret

WITH AN AIR THAT SHE WAS TO SING .

T O thee my offspring I commend,
The infant's guide, the parent's friend.
Play with my little helpless birth
Before its hands can leave the earth.

To thee alone its trembling fate,
My hopes and fears, I consecrate;
For it was thy enchanting voice
That made the Nymph I love my choice.

One of Nine Sisters took my heart,
And Love to both resign'd his dart.
The couch was bless'd, — Lucina came,
But wish'd for thee to give the name.

Tis true — that me , with roses crown'd

'T IS true — that me , with roses crown'd,
The tear of Sympathy has found,
And been at once obey'd;
That Pleasure's light, and Beauty's flower,
Have sunk — when pale Misfortune's hour
Implor'd Compassion's aid.

'Tis true — that in the moral grief ,
I never ask'd or wish'd relief,
Nor envy'd playful ease:
But Love the miracle has wrought,
And Love the feeling bosom taught,
How dearly Pain can please!

Song

M Y youthful heart a willing slave
To Love's enchanting bloom I gave.
But Winter 's come — 'tis Nature's frost ,
The leaves and germs of Spring are lost.

Again, Promethean Love, inspire
The genial flame of young desire;
And thou shalt make the parting flower,
Shame with its hue the Vernal bower.

On the Death of a Most Beautiful Young Woman, in Child-Bed

A RE these propitious Hymen's fruits?
Must Beauty feel the shafts of Death?
When Spring the tender blossom shoots,
Why darts the South his tainted breath?

Extinguish'd is the torch of Love —
Near the cold urn these ashes fill:
In anguish mourns the Cyprian Dove,
And Flora's tears their odour spill.

The youthful Brides are struck with fear,
When Love has crown'd the nuptial bed;
In Stella's fate their own they hear,
And willows in the wreath are spread.

But let them smile, and be secure!

The Lover

I.

Since Stella 's Charms, divinely fair,
First pour'd their Lustre on my Heart,
Ten thousand Pangs my Bosom tear,
And ev'ry Fibre feels the Smart.
If such the mournful Moments prove,
O who wou'd give his Heart to Love!

II.

I meet my Bosom-Friends with pain,
Tho' Friendship us'd to warm my Soul;
Wine's generous Spirit flames in vain,
I find no Cordial in the Bowl.
If such the mournful Moments prove,
O who wou'd give his Heart to Love!

III.

Tho' Nature's Volume open lies,

On Lady Georgiana Canning's Dangerous Illness, 1804

AND thus can storms of thine reprove,
Oh, God of Peace, of Hope, and Love!
Can this be life, that so can fade?
Breath — of the vernal dews afraid!
'Twas yesterday that Stella's bloom
Dispell'd all images of gloom,
With spirits of the new-born day,
And fearless of the night's decay;
That Nature, innocent of guile,
Was crown'd with Beauty's radiant smile,
With blushes that surpass'd the rose
When first its bright vermillion glows:
When Love prepar'd the nuptial bower,
And bless'd the consecrated hour.

The Despairing Maiden

I.

Within an unfrequented Grove
 As late I laid alone,
A tender Maid in deep Distress,
 At Distance, made her Moan.

II.

She cropt the blue-ey'd Violet,
 Bedew'd with many a Tear;
And ever and anon her Sighs
 Stole sadly on my Ear.

III.

“Ah faithless Man! how cou'd he leave
 So fond and true a Maid?
Can so much Innocence and Truth
 Deserve to be betray'd?

IV.

Alass, my Mother (if the Dead
 Can hear their Children groan.)
What ills your helpless Orphan feels,
 To Sorrow left alone!

Her Sparkling Eyes

[Edward to Lacy]
[I tell thee, Lacy, that]
—Her sparkling eyes
Do lighten forth sweet love's alluring fire;
And in her tresses she doth fold the looks
Of such as gaze upon her golden hair.
Her bashful white, mix'd with the morning's red,
Luna doth boast upon her lovely cheeks.
Her front is beauty's table, where she paints
The glories of her gorgeous excellence;
Her teeth are shelves of precious margarites,
Richly enclos'd with ruddy coral cleaves.