University of Virginia Library


415

TO THE PORTRAIT OF HELEN.

Sweet Helen! with thee, in the vale,
With rapture my hours have been crown'd,
When the turtle was telling his tale,
And the lambkins were sporting around.
In the cottage I too have been blest,
When thy beauty the cottage adorn'd;
And when thy soft hand I have prest,
I have fancied my youth was return'd.
But why, my sweet-girl, art thou here,
With mop-squeezers, venders of cheese,
With the calf, and the bull, and the bear?—
What horrid companions are these!
But where is thy form and thy grace—
Where those eyes that with lustre should shine?—
Dear Helen, I look on a face
That never, ah! never, was thine!
Painters seldom in beauty succeed—
Grace and canvass but seldom agree—
Thou hast honour'd the painter, indeed;
But the knave has done nothing for thee!