Julia Alpinula :: :: University of Virginia Library

Julia Alpinula

With The Captive of Stamboul and Other Poems. By J. H. Wiffen

Wiffen, Jeremiah Holmes (1792-1836)

[epigraph]

[section]

POEMS.

THE RUSSELL

LINES Written on a blank leaf of the “Pleasures of Hope.”

LINES Written beneath a Miniature in the possession of a Friend.

THE LEGEND OF THE STATUE.

To—

AFTER THE SPANISH.

“Et longum, formose, vale! vale! inquit Iola.”—Virgil.

I took the Harp.

Written in an Album.

Sonnet to W. Wordsworth, Esq.

To---

Taliessin.

The Cascade on Raven Crag, near Lake Coniston.

Newstead Abbey.

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231

I took the Harp.

1

I took the harp, and would have sung,
But scarcely had its tones awoke,
When lo! a chord too harshly strung,
Beneath my fingers, sighing, broke.

2

'Tis thus the heart of gentle mould
To love, alas, too fondly given,
Ere it can well its tale unfold,
By Beauty's careless touch is riven.

3

And when its sweetest thrill is o'er,
And it has ceased to throb for ever,
Can kindliest smiles its pulse restore,
Or warm it then?—no, never! never!

4

Then, Lady, whilst that heart's awake
Which beats for thee, and thee alone,
Remember that its chords will break,
If with rude hand they're dwelt upon.