Metrical essays :: :: University of Virginia Library

Suprême bien des jeunes cœurs,
Redoutable Amour plein de charmes,
Dont les passagères ardeurs
Enfantent mes tendres alarmes;
Garde tes amères faveurs,
Mais laisse-moi tes douces larmes.

I.

Mild is the air of the summer night;
Alvina, we wait for thee,
Where rests our boat in the clear moonlight,
On the softly murm'ring sea:
We have bound young Love in a silken band,
And his song's melodious call
Invites thee, maid, to a beauteous land,
And to Beauty's carnival.

II.

There the lamps are hung from the mirror'd dome,
The pillars with roses wreath'd;
And bow'rs are there like Love's own bright home,
Where love should be only breath'd:
There the halls are throng'd with Sicilian maids,
There the fairest youths are met;
Who whisp'ring rove through delightful shades,
Or dance to the castanet.
Mild is the air &c.

III.

The stars are out on the gala sky,
The white clouds are bathed in light,
The loveliest things to the heart and eye
Grace the holy calm of night:
O lady, haste, and thy lover bless,
'Tis the hour when lovers meet,—
When maidens speak what their eyes confess,
And the heavens love-sighs repeat.
Mild is the air &c.

IV.

O lady, haste, disappointment steals,
Cold, dark, like a with'ring sear,
The soul of bliss—pain the soonest feels—
The heart, if it loves, must fear—
I hear thy voice, and its low soft sound
Bids grief from my bosom part;
I hear thy step on the silent ground,
Now I hold thee to my heart!
Kind swells the breeze of the summer night,
All our sails are now thrown free;
And swift we glide in the clear moonlight
O'er the softly murm'ring sea.