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VERSES
OCCASIONED BY A PRESENT OF A MOSS ROSE-BUD, FROM MISS JACKSON OF SOUTHGATE.
I
The slightest of favours bestow'd by the fairWith rapture we take, and with transport we wear;
But a moss-woven rose-bud, Eliza, from thee,
A well-pleasing gift to a monarch would be:
—Ah! that illness, too cruel, forbidding should stand,
And refuse me the gift from thine own lovely hand!
II
With joy I receive it, with pleasure will view,Reminded of thee by its odour and hue;
“Sweet rose! let me tell thee, tho' charming thy bloom,
“Tho' thy fragrance exceeds Saba's richest perfume;
“Thy breath to Eliza's hath no fragrance in't;
“And thy bloom is but dull to her cheek's blushing tint.
III
“Yet alas! my fair flower, that bloom will decay,“And all thy fine beauties soon wither away;
“Though pluck'd by her hand, to whose touch thou must own,
“Harsh and rough is the cygnet's most delicate down:
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“But the rose, lovely moralist! suffer to teach.”
IV
“Extol not, fond maiden, thy beauties o'er mine,“They too are short-liv'd, and they too must decline;
“And small in conclusion, the difference appears
“In the bloom of few days, or the bloom of few years!
“But remember a virtue, the rose hath to boast,
“—Its Fragrance remains, when its Beauties are lost.”
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