 | The Genuine Works in Verse and Prose, Of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne |  |
70
To MIRA.
[When wilt thou break, my stubborn Heart?]
I
When wilt thou break, my stubborn Heart?O Death! how slow to take my part!
Whatever I pursue, denies,
Death, Death itself, like Mira, flies.
II
Love and Despair, like Twins, possestAt the same fatal Birth my Breast;
No Hope could be, her Scorn was all
That to my destin'd Lot could fall.
III
I thought, alas! that Love could dwellBut in warm Climes, where no Snow fell;
Like Plants, that kindly Heat require,
To be maintain'd by constant Fire.
IV
That without Hope, 'twou'd die as soon,A little Hope—but I have none:
71
Deny'd e'en that, my Love can live.
V
As toughest Trees in Storms are bred,And grow in spight of Winds and spread,
The more the Tempest tears and shakes
My Love, the deeper Root it takes.
VI
Despair, that Aconite does prove,And certain Death to others Love;
That Poison, never yet withstood,
Does nourish mine, and turns to Food.
VII
O! for what Crime is my torn HeartCondemn'd to suffer deathless Smart?
Like sad Prometheus, thus to lie
In endless Pain, and never die.
| The Genuine Works in Verse and Prose, Of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne | |