 | [Poems by Payne in] John Howard Payne ... his life and writings |  |
FLATTERY.
[_]
Lines addressed to a lady who told the author she feared that the attention of the world would spoil him, and unfit him for anything serious. Written in 1806.
Oh, Lady! hadst thou ever seen
The tear unbidden fill my eye,
Or mark'd me in the sportive scene,
To half suppress the rising sigh,—
The tear unbidden fill my eye,
Or mark'd me in the sportive scene,
To half suppress the rising sigh,—
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Thou wouldst not think that Pleasure's glare
Had blinded, and subdu'd my heart,
Or planted deep was, rankling there
The poison of her glittering dart!—
Had blinded, and subdu'd my heart,
Or planted deep was, rankling there
The poison of her glittering dart!—
True, fortune on my boyhood smil'd,
And much of flatt'ry I have known,
Yet Sorrow claims me as her child,
And early mark'd me for her own.
And much of flatt'ry I have known,
Yet Sorrow claims me as her child,
And early mark'd me for her own.
The joy has burst its prison chains,
And rapture started from its sleep,
They left me with severer pains,
They taught me better how to weep!—
And rapture started from its sleep,
They left me with severer pains,
They taught me better how to weep!—
Few are the hours which beam like those
That I have sweetly spent with you,
Which, brilliant 'mid a cloud of woes,
In memory still their charms renew!
That I have sweetly spent with you,
Which, brilliant 'mid a cloud of woes,
In memory still their charms renew!
| [Poems by Payne in] John Howard Payne ... his life and writings | |