The Works of the Late Aaron Hill ... In Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, And of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With An Essay on the Art of Acting |
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Ronald and Dorna;
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
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Ronald and Dorna;
by a Highlander, to his Mistress. From a literal Translation of the Original.
I
Come, let us climb Skorr-urran's snowy top;Cold, as it seems, it is less cold, than you:
Thin, thro' its snow, these lambs its heath-twigs crop;
Your snow, more hostile, starves, and freezes, too.
II
What, tho' I lov'd, of late, in Skey's fair isle!And blush'd—and bow'd—and shrunk from Kenza's eye!
All, she had power to hurt with, was her smile;
But 'tis a frown of yours, for which I die.
III
Ask, why these herds, beneath us, rush, so fast,On the brown sea-ware's stranded heaps, to feed?
Winter, like you, with-holds their wish'd repast,
And, robb'd of genial grass, they brouze on weed.
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IV
Mark, with what tuneful haste Sheleila flows,To mix its wid'ning stream, in Donnan's lake!
Yet, should some dam the current's course oppose,
It must, per-force, a less-lov'd passage take.
V
Born, like your body, for a spirit's claim,Trembling, I wait, unsoul'd, 'till you inspire:
God has prepar'd the lamp, and bids it flame,
But you, fair Dorna, have with-held the fire.
VI
High, as yon pine, when you begin to speak,My light'ning heart leaps, hopeful, at the sound,
But, fainting at the sense, falls, void, and weak,
And sinks, and saddens, like yon mossy ground.
VII
All that I taste, or touch, or see, or hear,Nature's whole breadth reminds me but of you!
Ev'n heav'n itself would your sweet likeness wear,
If, with its pow'r, you had its mercy, too.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |