 | Poetical remains (1872) |  |
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ODE V. TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER ATTAINING HER 21st YEAR.
The dawn, from whose auspicious light
Her flowing years my Laura numbers,
Now glows in ruddy beauty bright.
Awake, my lyre! thy debt to pay,
Prevent the day,
O sunk in long-inglorious slumbers!
Her flowing years my Laura numbers,
Now glows in ruddy beauty bright.
Awake, my lyre! thy debt to pay,
Prevent the day,
O sunk in long-inglorious slumbers!
So may the approaching maid be won
To smile, and emulate the morning;
For half-discovered now, the sun
Scatters around his jocund beams,
With golden gleams
Yon airy waving pines adorning.
To smile, and emulate the morning;
For half-discovered now, the sun
Scatters around his jocund beams,
With golden gleams
Yon airy waving pines adorning.
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But o'er his orb what shadowy grace
That amber-skirted cloud diffuses!
So let awhile thy lovelier face
The gloom of not unpleasing care,
O Laura! wear:
The moral wisdom of the muses.
That amber-skirted cloud diffuses!
So let awhile thy lovelier face
The gloom of not unpleasing care,
O Laura! wear:
The moral wisdom of the muses.
This hour demands. In flattering charms
Comes Liberty, by Love attended.
But yet alert with just alarms
Behold them in this anxious hour,
Where ends the power
That held thy doubtful choice suspended.
Comes Liberty, by Love attended.
But yet alert with just alarms
Behold them in this anxious hour,
Where ends the power
That held thy doubtful choice suspended.
Dangerous is Beauty! Her, while new,
We court with many a fond profession;
And self-deceived, may think them true.
Yet hope not, if no purer fire
Refine desire,
That love will grow beyond possession.
We court with many a fond profession;
And self-deceived, may think them true.
Yet hope not, if no purer fire
Refine desire,
That love will grow beyond possession.
In glittering hues, to dazzle youth,
Opinion paints the untried condition:
But Time shall sober into truth
Her gaudy coloring. He shall show
What specious woe
Heaven well denied to thy petition.
Opinion paints the untried condition:
But Time shall sober into truth
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What specious woe
Heaven well denied to thy petition.
Or, if sincere his faith remain,
Whom long, his country's call obeying,
Far distant climes from thee detain;
Time, when thy wanderer he hath tried,
To thee shall guide,
With joy, tho' late, thy grief o'erpaying.
Whom long, his country's call obeying,
Far distant climes from thee detain;
Time, when thy wanderer he hath tried,
To thee shall guide,
With joy, tho' late, thy grief o'erpaying.
Nor be the white-wing'd minute long!
Then, Laura, with glad zeal officious,
Again the matin lark my song
Shall join, to hail in livelier lay
The auspicious day,
Above this sacred light auspicious.
Then, Laura, with glad zeal officious,
Again the matin lark my song
Shall join, to hail in livelier lay
The auspicious day,
Above this sacred light auspicious.
| Poetical remains (1872) | |