142

TO VALENTINE.

See, see, the cheerful morn! how bright it

shines!

With larger steps the Sun his course reclines, As conscious of thy day, as favouring thy designs:

All wed below, and he above would wed;

The youthful earth has drest her fragrant bed, And promises her shades to shroud his radiant head.

At his approach the storms and winter fly! The joyful bride her snowy vest lays by, Nor does, untimely coy, her naked form deny.

Ah! could thy power so warm Lucretia's heart, And make the winter there and cold depart, How wouldst thou bless a wretch, and ease his raging smart!

Couldst thou but make her soul consent with

mine,

And with her heart her answering hands to join! For thee should Phoebus sing, and all the tuneful Nine.

While I in annual songs thy name would raise, Thy day should stand above the rest of days, All lovers bless the Saint! and crown my head with bays!

SAMUEL SAY.

THE FAITH OF LOVE.

THOU hast watched beside the bed of death,

Oh, fearless human love;

Thy lip received the last faint breath,

Ere the spirit fled above.

Thy prayer was heard by the parting bier,

In a low and farewell tone,

Thou hast given the grave both flower and tear, -Oh, Love thy task is done.

Then turn thee from each pleasant spot
Where thou wert wont to rove,

For there the friend of thy soul is not,
Nor the joy of thy youth, oh Love!

Thou wilt meet but mournful memory there,
Her dreams in the groves she weaves,

With echoes filling the summer air,
With sighs the trembling leaves.

Then turn thee to the world again,

From those dim haunted bowers,

And shut thine ear to the wild sweet strain
That tells of vanished hours.

144

THE FAITH OF LOVE.

And wear not on thine aching heart

The image of the dead,

For the tie is rent that gave thee part
In the gladness its beauty shed.

And gaze on the pictured smile no more
That thus saw life outlast,

All between parted souls is o'er :-
Love! Love! forget the past.

"Voice of vain fooling, away, be still,
Strive not against the faith

That yet my bosom with light can fill,
Unquenched and undimm'd by death.

"From the pictured smile I will not turn, Though sadly now it shine,

Nor quit the shades that in whispers mourn For the step once linked with mine.

"Nor shut mine ear to the song of old,
Though its notes the pang renew,
Such memories deep in my heart I hold,
To keep it pure and true.

By the holy instinct of my heart,
By the hope that bears me on,
I have still my own undying part
In the deep affection gone.

By the presence that about me seems
Through night and day to dwell,
Voice of vain bodings and fearful dreams;
I have breathed no last farewell!

LOVE, A LITTLE BOY.

FIRST GRACE.

BEAUTIES, have ye seen this toy,
Called Love, a little boy,
Almost naked, wanton, blind,
Cruel now, and then as kind?
If he be 'mongst us, ye say,
He is Venus' run away.

HEMANS.

SECOND GRACE.

She that will but now discover
Where the winged wag doth hover,
Shall to-night receive a kiss,
How, or when, herself would wish;
But who brings him to his mother,
Shall have that kiss and another.

K

146

LOVE, A LITTLE BOY.

THIRD GRACE.

He hath of marks about him plenty,
You shall know him among twenty;
All his body is a fire,

And his breath a flame entire,

That, being shot like lightning in,
Wounds the heart but not the skin.

FIRST GRACE.

At his sight the sun hath turned,
Neptune in the waters burned,
Hell hath felt a greater heat,
Jove himself forsook his seat:
From the centre to the sky,
Are his trophies reared high.

SECOND GRACE.

Wings he hath, which, though ye clip,

He will leap from lip to lip,
Over liver, lights, and heart,
But not stay in any part;
And if chance his arrow misses,
He will sboot himself in kisses.

THIRD GRACE.

He doth bear a golden bow,
And a quiver hanging low,