FRAGMENT XXXI.
TO LOUISA.
(On whose Easel I found a beautiful Painting of
Cupid sleeping.)
“Respectens l'amour! tandis qu'il someille
Et craignons un jour, ce Dieu ne seveille.”
J. J. Rousseau.
I
How!
Love, thus wrapt in soft repose;
Ah! whence didst thou thy model borrow,
Or Love, with waking transport glows,
Or restless weeps, a waking sorrow?
II
Perhaps thou'st borrow'd from thyself,
For in thine heart, they say, Love sleeps;
While in thine eye some swear the elf
An everlasting vigil keeps.
III
Oh! where, my charming artist, lies
The mystic secret of thy art?
To keep Love waking in the eyes,
And guard him sleeping in the heart!
