To meet thy smiles of tenderness,
And catch the feeling tone
Of kindness, ever breathed to bless,
And feel, I'll be "alone;"
To mark thy strength each hour decay,
And yet thy hopes grow stronger,
As, filled with heavenward trust, they say
"Earth may not claim thee longer;"
Nay, dearest, 'tis too much-this heart
Must break when thou art gone;
It must not be; we may not part;
I could not live "alone!"
WHEN thy beauty appears
In its graces and airs,
All bright as an angel new dropped from the sky;
At a distance I gaze, and am awed by my fears,
So strangely you dazzle my eyes!
But when without art,
Your kind thoughts you impart,
When your love runs in blushes through every vein;
When it darts from your eyes, when it pants in your
Then I know you're a woman again.
There's a passion and pride
In our sex, she replied,
And thus, might I gratify both, I would do:
Still an angel appear to each lover beside,
But still be a woman to you.
I PASS before them cold and lone;
I ask no smile, I claim no tear;
And like some chisselled form of stone,
Doomed none save mocking words to hear,
To meet no eyes with Love's own ray,
No touch that might the life-pulse wake,
No lone emotion to betray,
No self-forgotten for its sake!
So pass they all, and it is well!
I would not such should read the mine
Where hidden tenderness may dwell,
Like gems in icy cave confined;
I would not every eye should read
What one alone should ever know-
One, only one, by fate decreed
To bid these icy fetters flow!
They deem that changeful, struggling still,
For that nor time nor earth can give;
Misled by Fancy's aimless will,
I in the cold ideal live..
Ob, it is well!-thence holier far
Is all I cherished thus apart-
Pure as the brightness of a star,
Deep as the fountain of the heart!
THE UNEXPECTED DECLARATION.
"AZURE-EYED ELOISE! beauty is thine,
Passion kneels to thee, and calls thee divine;
Minstrels awaken the lute with thy name;
Poets have gladdened the world with thy fame;
Painters, half-holy thy loved image keep;
Beautiful Eloise! why do you weep ?"
Still bows the lady her light tresses low,-
Fast the warm tears from her veiled eyes flow!
"Sunny-haired Eloise! wealth is thine own;
Rich is thy silken robe-bright is thy zone;
Proudly thy jewel illumines thy way;
Clear rubies rival thy ruddy lips' play;
Diamonds like star-drops thy silken braids deck;
Pearls waste their snow on thy lovelier neck ·
Luxury softens thy pillow for sleep
Angels watch over it-why do you weep?"
Bows the fair lady her light tresses low,-
Faster the tears from her veiled eyes flow!
"Gifted and worshipped one! genius and grace
Play in each motion, but beam in thy face:
When from thy rosy lips rises the song,
Hearts that adore thee the echo prolong!
Ne'er in the festival shone an eye brighter,
Ne'er in the the mazy dance fell a foot lighter.
One only spirit thou'st failed to bring down,-
Exquisite Eloise! why do you frown.?"
Swift o'er her forehead a dark shadow stole,
Sent from the tempest of pride in her soul!'
"Touched by thy sweetness, in love with thy grace,
Charmed by the magic of mind in thy face-
Bewitched by thy beauty, e'en his haughty strength,
The strength of the stoic, is conquered at length!
Lo! at thy feet see him kneeling the while-
Eloise! Eloise! why do you smile ?"
The hand was withdrawn from her happy blue eyes,
She gazed on her lover in laughing surprise;
While dimple and blush, stealing soft to her cheek;
Told the tale that her tongue was too timid to speak!
LINES TO A LADY.
I THINK of thee, when morning springs
From sleep, with plumage bathed in dew
And like a young bird, lifts her wings
Of purple on the welkin blue.
And when at noon the breath of Love,
O'er flower and stream is wandering free,
And sent in music from the grove,
I think of thee-I think of thee.
I think of thee, when soft and wide,
The Evening spreads her robes of light,
And like a young and timid bride,
Sits blushing in the arms of Night.
And when the moon's soft crescent springs
In light o'er heaven's deep waveless sea,
And stars are forth like blessed things,
I think of thee-I think of thee.
I think of thee;-that eye of flame,
Those tresses falling bright and free,
That brow where Beauty writes her name,
On fancy rush; -I think of thee.
CEASE, CEASE; THOSE SIGHS I CANNOT BEAR.
CEASE, cease; those sighs I cannot bear;
Hark! hark! the drums are calling,
Oh! I must chide that coward tear,
Or kiss it as 'tis falling.
Eliza, bid thy soldier go;
Why thus thy heart strings sever?
Ah! be not then my honour's foe,
Or I am lost for ever.
Trust to benevolence above,
With mind resign'd and steady;
He'll never wound, believe me, love,
The heart that's broke already.
Serene yon dreadful field I see,
Whatever fate betide me;
Thy shelter innocence shall be,
And I've no wish beside thee.
FORGET me not-forget me not,
But let these simple flowers
Remind thee of his lonely lot
Who lov'd thee in life's purest hours:
When hearts and hopes were hallowed things
Ere Gladness broke the lyre she brought;
Then, Oh! when shivered all its strings,
Forget me not-forget me not!
We met, ere yet the words had come
To wither up the spring of youth;
Amid the holy joys of home,
And in the first warm blush of youth;
We parted as they never part,
Whose tears are doom'd to be forgot!
Oh! by that agony of heart,
Forget me not-forget me not!
Thine eye must watch these flow'rets fade,
Thy soul its idols melt away;
But oh! when flowers and friends lie dead,
Love can embalm them in decay :
And, when thy spirit sighs along
The shadowy scenes of hoarded thought,
Oh! listen to its pleading song-
Forget me not-forget me not!
WHAT IS IT TO LOVE.
STRANGER, didst thou ever prove,
Ever what it is to love?
Stranger, didst thou ever feel,
What thou tremblest to reveal?
I have prov'd, and I have felt,
What a heart of stone would melt.
Stranger, didst thou ever sigh,
Knowing not the reason why?
Didst thou blush, if one lov'd name,
E'er in conversation came?
Stranger, ne'er my cause deride,
Though, I own, I've blush'd and sigh'd.
If his eye thine eye has met,
Blushes did it not beget?
If his praises reach'd thine ear,
Seem'd there not enchantment near?
Him I've met, his praise I've prov'd,
Where is now my best belov'd?
THINK ON THAT LOOK OF HUMID RAY.
THINK on that look of humid ray,
Which for a moment mix'd with mine;
And for that moment seem'd to say,
I dare not, or I would be thine.
Think, think on ev'ry smile and glance,
On all thou hast to charm or move;
And then forgive my bosom's trance,
And tell me 'tis not sin to love.
Oh! not to love thee were a sin;
For sure if heaven's decrees be done,
Thou, thou art destin'd still to win,
As I was destin'd to be won!
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