VALENTINES.
I.
IMITATION OF METASTASIO'S “PARTENZA.”
Sister, far from thee I'm gone;
And often, silent and alone,
Sudden starts a willing tear
Which would not fall if thou wert here;
But thou, my Susan, who can tell
If thy least thought on me shall dwell?
How quick our meeting days have passed!
But human pleasures will not last;
And Learning's all-consuming power
Hastened on our parting hour.
But thou, my Susan, who can tell
If thy least thought on me shall dwell?
But quickly still from day to day
Flies the hasty time away;
Fraught with hope and sportive glee,
I'll soon revisit home and thee;
Whilst thou, my Susan, who can tell
If thy least thought on me shall dwell?
But stay, I wrong thee, gentle dove,
I know I wrong thy tender love;
Oft thine eye will shed a tear,
Which would not fall if I were near;
Yes, yes, my Susan, I can tell,
Oft thy thoughts on me will dwell.
February 14, 1816.
II.
A MADRIGAL
When weeping friends are parting,
Oh then their hearts are smarting!
But when they're just returning,
Oh then their hearts are burning!
They're merry all,
Nor once recall
The tear they shed at parting.
February 14, 1817.
III.
THE DOVE.
Tell me, little darling Dove,
Whence and whither dost thou rove?
I am in haste; a brother tied
This doggrel greeting to my side;
May every good my Sister bless,—
Life, virtue, health, and happiness;
Not vulgar mirth, but modest sense;
Not mines of gold, but competence;
With these her bark may peaceful glide,
Uninjured, down life's swelling tide.
May soft Content's all-healing power
Stand ready for each suffering hour,
Enhance the good the Fates bestow,
And mitigate the pangs of woe.
Each year may an adoring crew
New Valentines around her strew;
Be every page, be every line,
As ardent, as sincere, as mine!
February 14, 1817.
IV.
THE DEITIES.
Each god has left his heavenly seat,
Olympus, for a while;
And animates a mortal shape
In Britain's favoured isle:
Ye Deities, no thin disguise
Conceals ye from a poet's eyes!
Jove thunders as Britannia's King,
And Bacchus is his son;
And Byron strikes Apollo's lyre;
And Mars is Wellington.
Like Neptune, Exmouth rules the sea,—
But lovely Venus smiles in thee.
Yet not alone does Venus smile;
For there are joined in thee
The Muses' verse, Minerva's sense,
And Juno's majesty:
The Graces o'er thy figure rove,
And every feature beams with Love.
1817.
