University of Virginia Library

XXIX.

She hung upon his bosom, weak;
She look'd the love she could not speak.
He smil'd the rose back to her cheek:
“Thou fond and full heart! do not break.”
He seal'd with kisses warm her lips;
And—as the half-flying redbreast sips

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A dewdrop from the lily's breast,
Then, perching on it, trills his song;—
So kiss'd he off her tears, to rest
Soothing the heart-throb, tortur'd long.
Like fairy, shod with gossamer,
Joy, unexpected, came to her,
For pass'd woe to atone.
Her lip lay on his neck embrac'd:
As if an angel's glance had chas'd
Her darkness, it was gone.
And who shall boast a heroine like mine?
Not more than woman, yet almost divine,
Minerva-like in battle she appears,
Venus in love, and Niobe in tears;
Before her Laila, Constance fade to air;
And ten to nothing! she shall thrash Gulnare!