Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
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THE TREASURE. |
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THE TREASURE.
I
What doth her precious casket hold?What is her hidden treasure?
Can sparkling gems, or burnish'd gold
Afford this secret pleasure?
She leaves her sisters in the day,
From the banquet-board she rises,
And from her couch she steals away,
To weep o'er what she prizes.
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II
Not gold or jewels doth she keep,Within her secret bower,
Bright eyes have seldom learn'd to weep
O'er these at any hour.
If strangers come—she shuts the lid—
Her prize in haste concealing;
But sad looks, when the chest is hid,
Betray the depth of feeling.
III
What is this source of secret grief?—Alas! a fatal token!
The relic of a foreign chief,
An arrow, stain'd and broken!
Yes, still a blood-mark stains its tip,
Although so oft wept over!
And still she presses to her lip
The shaft that slew her lover!
| Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | |