 | Poems and Plays |  |
177
ALBINA.
[_]
ADVERTISEMENT.
The subject of these Stanzas is not founded upon a fiction. The young woman was cruelly deluded by a man who was already married: The mock ceremonial of a marriage took place in ITALY: She soon after returned to ENGLAND, and going into a sequestered part of the country, devoted herself to retirement.
179
Would Genius to my fond demand
My earnest bold request bestow,
A vivid pencil to this hand,
Dipt in the brilliant vernal bow:
My earnest bold request bestow,
A vivid pencil to this hand,
Dipt in the brilliant vernal bow:
How eager would I then engage
(With faithful and unerring aim)
To paint on the poetic page
Albina's elegance of frame!
(With faithful and unerring aim)
To paint on the poetic page
Albina's elegance of frame!
180
Her tresses—dark with auburn hue:
Her brow serene—young Candour's throne:
Her timid eye—whose languid blue
Sheds charms peculiarly its own.
Her brow serene—young Candour's throne:
Her timid eye—whose languid blue
Sheds charms peculiarly its own.
Her cheek—that wears a lively glow:
Not after the fresh morning show'r
Can Italy's rich summer show,
On all her banks so bright a flow'r.
Not after the fresh morning show'r
Can Italy's rich summer show,
On all her banks so bright a flow'r.
Her cherry lip—inviting bliss,
Where Love deliciously reposes,
Accompanied by many a kiss,
On fragrant leaves of breathing roses.
Where Love deliciously reposes,
Accompanied by many a kiss,
On fragrant leaves of breathing roses.
Yet who can paint her beauteous mind?
There Innocence has fix'd her seat;
There easy wit, and taste refin'd,
And sentiment and knowledge meet.
There Innocence has fix'd her seat;
There easy wit, and taste refin'd,
And sentiment and knowledge meet.
181
Love, who oft whelms the Fair in woe,
Soon robb'd her guileless mind of rest:
Affection's flame dissolv'd the snow
That lodg'd within her spotless breast.
Soon robb'd her guileless mind of rest:
Affection's flame dissolv'd the snow
That lodg'd within her spotless breast.
As still the East the morn-beams streak,
And gild the portal of the day,
So did her morning thought still break
On the same Youth with Ardour's ray:
And gild the portal of the day,
So did her morning thought still break
On the same Youth with Ardour's ray:
As the last glimm'rings of the sky
Pause on the lake, ere they expire,
Each night her thought (as clos'd her eye)
Died on the Youth of her desire.
Pause on the lake, ere they expire,
Each night her thought (as clos'd her eye)
Died on the Youth of her desire.
The nuptials eager to profane,
The bold, unfeeling, treach'rous Youth
Led the chaste Maiden to the fane
With all the mockery of Truth.
The bold, unfeeling, treach'rous Youth
Led the chaste Maiden to the fane
With all the mockery of Truth.
182
Hypocrisy with downcast air,
Profaneness with an atheist eye,
And Lust with a malignant leer,
Remark'd the mock-connubial tie.
Profaneness with an atheist eye,
And Lust with a malignant leer,
Remark'd the mock-connubial tie.
No sooner had the Youth prevail'd,
Successful in his impious aim,
He left the drooping Fair, assail'd
By Grief, by Infamy, and Shame.
Successful in his impious aim,
He left the drooping Fair, assail'd
By Grief, by Infamy, and Shame.
'Twas then the beauteous Mourner woo'd
Meek Quiet, in her lonely seat,
Where Competency watchful strew'd
Her sober treasures at her feet.
Meek Quiet, in her lonely seat,
Where Competency watchful strew'd
Her sober treasures at her feet.
I'll not the little path-way tell
That winds to thy sequester'd scene;
Where Virtue loves with thee to dwell,
Remote—unseeing and unseen.
That winds to thy sequester'd scene;
Where Virtue loves with thee to dwell,
Remote—unseeing and unseen.
183
Where Resignation takes her stand,
Prompt to perform her friendly part,
And gathers with a trembling hand
The fragments of a broken heart.
Prompt to perform her friendly part,
And gathers with a trembling hand
The fragments of a broken heart.
| Poems and Plays | |