 | Landscapes in verse |  |
It comes, it comes! its odorous plumes prepare
To spread abroad—for on the morrow's dawn,
(Which soon shall see a blushing rival bloom
In Fanny's cheek) all things were fix'd to wed.
Ah interval of every soft excess
The human heart can prove! suspence divine!
Fill'd with each ardent hope and roseate fear,
Where Pleasure meets her antient foe, meets Pain,
With such unwonted smiles upon his brow,
His temples bound with sweet-briar, to denote
As well the fragrant leaf as pointed thorn,
(Emblem of wedded bliss and misery)
Pleasure herself the mystic garland takes,
And grants a truce, and is in league with Pain:
So soft the sigh, so sweet the tear he brings,
When virgin Innocence by manly Truth
Is led to Hymen's altar. And ah! see,
Behold! the meek eve, that foreruns that morn:
“Yet, yet awhile, a few thin shades between,
“And thou art mine for ever;” cried the youth.
To spread abroad—for on the morrow's dawn,
(Which soon shall see a blushing rival bloom
In Fanny's cheek) all things were fix'd to wed.
Ah interval of every soft excess
The human heart can prove! suspence divine!
Fill'd with each ardent hope and roseate fear,
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With such unwonted smiles upon his brow,
His temples bound with sweet-briar, to denote
As well the fragrant leaf as pointed thorn,
(Emblem of wedded bliss and misery)
Pleasure herself the mystic garland takes,
And grants a truce, and is in league with Pain:
So soft the sigh, so sweet the tear he brings,
When virgin Innocence by manly Truth
Is led to Hymen's altar. And ah! see,
Behold! the meek eve, that foreruns that morn:
“Yet, yet awhile, a few thin shades between,
“And thou art mine for ever;” cried the youth.
| Landscapes in verse | |