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The lay of an Irish harp

or metrical fragments. By Miss Owenson
(1783-1859)

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[section]
 I. 
FRAGMENT I. THE IRISH HARP.
 II. 
FRAGMENT II. LA ROSE FLETRIE.
 III. 
FRAGMENT III. TO MRS. LEFANUE.
 IV. 
FRAGMENT IV. VIVE LA PLATONIQUE!
 V. 
FRAGMENT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM.
 VI. 
FRAGMENT VI. THE DREAM.
 VII. 
FRAGMENT VII.
 VIII. 
FRAGMENT VIII. THE VIOLET.
 IX. 
FRAGMENT IX. TO MRS. C*N*LLE.
 X. 
FRAGMENT X. THE BOUDOIR.
 XI. 
FRAGMENT XI. THE SPANISH GUITAR.
 XII. 
FRAGMENT XII. SPLEEN.
 XIII. 
FRAGMENT XIII. FANCY.
 XIV. 
FRAGMENT XIV. TO MRS. BROWNE,
 XV. 
FRAGMENT XV. THE MUSICAL FLY.
 XVI. 
FRAGMENT XVI. TO SIGNOR ALPHONSO PILLIGRINNI, LL.D.
 XVII. 
FRAGMENT XVII. CONCETTE.
 XVIII. 
FRAGMENT XVIII. HOME.
 XIX. 
FRAGMENT XIX. L'AMANT MUTIN.
 XX. 
FRAGMENT XX. TO-MORROW.
 XXI. 
FRAGMENT XXI. THE SENSITIVE PLANT.
 XXII. 
FRAGMENT XXII. TWILIGHT.
 XXIV. 
FRAGMENT XXIV.
 XXV. 
FRAGMENT XXV. DAWN.
 XXVI. 
FRAGMENT XXVI. SLEEP.
 XXVII. 
FRAGMENT XXVII. THE NOSEGAY.
 XXVIII. 
FRAGMENT XXVIII. L'AMANTE FURIOSO.
 XXIX. 
FRAGMENT XXIX.
 XXX. 
FRAGMENT XXX. THE MINSTREL BOY.
 XXXI. 
FRAGMENT XXXI. TO LOUISA.
 XXXII. 
FRAGMENT XXXII. CANZONA.
 XXXIV. 
FRAGMENT XXXIV. APATHY.
 XXXV. 
FRAGMENT XXXV. THE IRISH JIG.
 XXXVI. 
FRAGMENT XXXVI. THE SWAN QUILL.
 XXXVII. 
FRAGMENT XXXVII. JOY.
 XXXVIII. 
FRAGMENT XXXVIII. THE OATH.
 XXXIX. 
FRAGMENT XXXIX. LOVE'S PICTURE.
 XLI. 
FRAGMENT XLI. HEALTH.
 XLII. 
FRAGMENT XLII. EFFUSION.
 XLIII. 
FRAGMENT XLIII. CUPID TIPSY.
 XLIV. 
FRAGMENT XLIV. THE BRIDE.
 XLV. 
FRAGMENT XLV. WHIM.
 XLVII. 
FRAGMENT XLVII. THE BUTTERFLY.
 XLVIII. 
FRAGMENT XLVIII. VENUS AND CUPID.

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19

FRAGMENT IV. VIVE LA PLATONIQUE!

To ------.
“Quand le caur se tait, l'amour a beau parler.”
T. Corneille.

I

If once again thou'dst have me love,
Revive my fancy's faded beam;
Give back each vision that illum'd
My early youth's ecstatic dream.
20

II

'Tis true, not many winters' snows
Have fall'n upon my life's fresh flow'r:
But feelings that should last an age,
With me, were wasted in an hour.

III

Too sanguine to be calmly blest,
The “life of life” I sought, and in it
21

Found many a joy my fancy drew,
But found their span, a raptur'd minute.

IV

Too ardent to be constant long,
If Love's wild rose I haply gather'd,
I scarcely breathed its fragrant bloom,
When Love's wild rose grew pale, and wither'd.

V

Too delicate to seek a bliss
Disrob'd of Fancy's magic veil,
22

Where others but begin to love,
Love's faintest throb, I ceas'd to feel.

VI

Then let me be thy tender friend,
Thy mistress since I cannot be:
Thou'lt soon forget thou'rt not belov'd,
And I! I'm not adored by thee.

VII

'Twill be the chastest, sweetest, tye
That round two hearts was ever twin'd;
Than friendship 'twill be warmer still,
Than passion 'twill be more refin'd.
23

VIII

Each soul shall meet its kindred soul,
Each heart shall share the same sensation;
Between pure sentiment and sense
Each feeling play with sweet vibration.

IX

And though in the Platonic scales
Some little Love should Nature fling,
The balance Reason would restore,
And give th' intrusive urchin wing.
 

Ninon de l'Enclos speaks of “le don d'aimer” as one not indiscriminately bestowed; and certainly the disposition of the object on whom it is lavished must in some degree not only ascertain its value, but regulate its duration. It can never indeed be laid totally aside (like the unused talent of the indolent steward), but it may be husbanded for life, or expended in an instant; one may live too fast in a feeling as well as in a physical sense, and languish of a premature atrophy of the heart as well as of the body. Thus Montesquieu is surprized to find he could love at thirty-five; while St. Aulaire wrote his last amatory verses at ninety!— “Anacreon moins vieux,” says Voltaire, “fit des bien moins jolies chosés.”

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