 | Poems (1806) |  |
199
SONNET VII. TO A YOUNG LADY, ON HER WEARING A VEIL,
WRITTEN JUNE 1790.
As when some goddess, from the ethereal heightDescending, wraps in clouds her beauty's blaze;
She hides from mortals the refulgent light,
Lest they should perish, as they fondly gaze.
'Tis thus, in kind relief, the veiling shade
Softens that bloom, those eyes suffusing fire
Lest, dazzled as we look, too lovely Maid,
We sink in faint delirium, and expire!
Yet the sweet influence of the shaded eye,
The charming languish of a face so fair;
Thy modest blush, like the mild morning sky,
Thy timid glance, thy meek retiring air,
Such tenderness to all thy beauties give,
That only with a trembling heart we live!
P.
| Poems (1806) | |