Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Oh, Henry, say, my only pride!

Should tender hearts like these divide?
Sure righteous heaven can ne'er approve!
Sure mine it calls unhallow'd love!
Yet would the soft parental voice
Confirm and sanctify my choice,
Bid me my best affection give
To him for whom indeed I live-,
Than father-mother--dearer name

Nor heart could wish, nor tongue could frame.

FAIR, and soft, and gay, and young,

All charm! she play'd, she danced, she sung, There was no way to 'scape the dart,

No care could guard the lover's heart. "Ah! why," cried I, and dropp'd a tear, (Adoring, yet despairing e'er

To have her to myself alone)

"Was so much sweetness made for one?"

But growing bolder, in her ear

I in soft numbers told my care:

She heard, and raised me from her feet,
And seem'd to glow with equal heat.

Like heaven's, too mighty to express, My joys could but be known by guess! "Ah! fool," said I, what have I done, To wish her made for more than one ?”

But long I had not been in view,
Before her eyes their beams withdrew
Ere I had reckon'd half her charms
She sunk into another's arms.

But she that once could faithless be,
Will favour him no more than me:
He too will find himself undone,
And that she was not made for one.

THO' cruel you seem to my pain,
And hate me because I am true;
Yet, PHYLLIS, you love a false swain,
Who has other nymphs in his view.

Enjoyment's a trifle to him,

To me what a heaven 't would be!
To him but a woman you seem,
But, ah! you're an angel to mo,

Those

Those lips which he touches in haste, 10-9 20 77

To them I for ever could grow ;"kromá slé Still clinging around that dear waist or 2nd ode Which he spans as beside him you go,jac 304

That arm, like a lily so white,

Which over his shoulders you lay,
My bosom could warm it all night,
My lips they could press it all day.

Were I like a monarch to reign,
Were Graces my subjects to be,
I'd leave them, and fly to the plain,
To dwell in a cottage with thee.

But if I must feel your disdain,
If tears cannot cruelty drown,

Oh! let me not live in this pain,

But give me my death in a frown.

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

YE shepherds and nymphs that adorn the gay plain, Approach from your sports and attend to my strain; Amongst all your number a lover so true

Was ne'er so undone with such bliss in his view.

Was

Was ever a nymph so hard-hearted as mine?

She knows me sincere, and she sees how I pine;

She does not disdain me, nor frown in her wrath, But calmly and mildly resigns me to death.

She calls me her friend, but her lover denies ;
She smiles when I'm cheerful, but hears not my sighs.
A bosom so flinty, so gentle an air,

Inspires me with hope, and yet bids me despair.

I fall at her feet and implore her with tears;
Her answer confounds, while her manner endears:
When softly she tells me to hope no relief,
My trembling lips bless her in spite of my grief.

By night, when I slumber, still haunted with care,
I start up in anguish, and sigh for the fair:
The fair sleeps in peace, may she ever do so!
And only when dreaming imagine my woe.

Then gaze at a distance, nor further aspire,
Nor think she could love whom she cannot admire:
Hush all thy complaining, and, dying her slave,
Commend her to heaven, and thyself to the grave.

HAMILTON.

YE happy swains, whose hearts are free
From love's imperial chain,
Take warning and be taught by me
To avoid th' enchanting pain;
Fatal the wolves to trembling flocks,
Fierce winds to blossoms prove,
To careless seamen hidden rocks,
To human quiet love.

Fly the fair sex if bliss you prize,
The snake's beneath the flower;
Whoever gazed on beauteous eyes
That tasted quiet more?

How faithless is the lover's joy!

How constant is their care!

The kind with falsehood do destroy,

The cruel with despair.

ETHERIDGE.

« VorigeDoorgaan »