Dramas Translations, and Occasional Poems. By Barbarina Lady Dacre.[i.e. Barbarina Brand] In Two Volumes |
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STANZAS
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 | Dramas |  |
221
STANZAS
WRITTEN IN APRIL, 1797, SOME MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF MY SISTER JANE.
Now laughing Spring awakens all the vale,
On Zephyr's wing a thousand perfumes float,
And the first cuckoo's solitary note
Bids us expect the evening nightingale:
With gaudy flowers the chequer'd fields are drest,
The violet lurks in every brake and dell;
With joy and hope all Nature seems to swell:
But 'tis nor joy, nor hope, that swells within my breast.
On Zephyr's wing a thousand perfumes float,
And the first cuckoo's solitary note
Bids us expect the evening nightingale:
With gaudy flowers the chequer'd fields are drest,
The violet lurks in every brake and dell;
With joy and hope all Nature seems to swell:
But 'tis nor joy, nor hope, that swells within my breast.
For not gay Spring that wont to lift my soul,
Nor zephyrs breathing on the bounding sense
Of untamed youth, in all their redolence,
Can now keen memory's secret power control:
Nor birds, nor flowers, in tangled brake or dell,
That once through all my being bore delight,
Can my dull ear and sadden'd eye invite,
Or teach my heart again with joy and hope to swell.
Nor zephyrs breathing on the bounding sense
Of untamed youth, in all their redolence,
Can now keen memory's secret power control:
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That once through all my being bore delight,
Can my dull ear and sadden'd eye invite,
Or teach my heart again with joy and hope to swell.
Fragrant the breezes of the morning sweep,
Bearing away the new-turn'd furrow's breath,
And scent of grass fresh-nibbled on the heath
By eager sheep; while on the crumbling steep
Rash lambs, thick huddling, seem the race to urge:
So rash, so sportive once, a happy child,
My new existence filled with rapture wild,
I too snatched pleasure strange, like them, on danger's verge.
Bearing away the new-turn'd furrow's breath,
And scent of grass fresh-nibbled on the heath
By eager sheep; while on the crumbling steep
Rash lambs, thick huddling, seem the race to urge:
So rash, so sportive once, a happy child,
My new existence filled with rapture wild,
I too snatched pleasure strange, like them, on danger's verge.
But morning breezes bear no healing breath
To her, whose first friend is in earth laid low.
Nor grass, nor sheep, can teach the heart to glow,
Whose loved companion is the prey of Death:
Nor life first bursting all around is sweet
To eyes that mark'd life ebb in one so dear;
Nor Nature's universal smile can cheer
Her, who is doomed no more her sister's smile to meet.
To her, whose first friend is in earth laid low.
Nor grass, nor sheep, can teach the heart to glow,
Whose loved companion is the prey of Death:
Nor life first bursting all around is sweet
To eyes that mark'd life ebb in one so dear;
Nor Nature's universal smile can cheer
Her, who is doomed no more her sister's smile to meet.
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