University of Virginia Library


411

TO LAURA.

How happy was the morn of love,
When first thy beauty won my heart!
How guiltless of a wish to rove!
I deem'd it more than death to part!
Whene'er from thee I chanc'd to stray,
How fancy dwelt upon thy mien,
That spread with flow'rs my distant way,
And show'r'd delight on every scene!
But Fortune, envious of my joys,
Hath robb'd a lover of thy charms—
From me thy sweetest smile decoys,
And gives thee to another's arms.
Yet, though my tears are doom'd to flow,
May tears be never Laura's lot!
Let love protect thy heart from woe;
His wound to mine shall be forgot.