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3.

If Apollo should e'er his assistance refuse,

Or the Nine be disposed from your service to rove, Invoke them no more, bid adieu to the muse, And try the effect of the first kiss of love.

41.

I hate you, ye cold compositions of art:

Though prudes may condemn me, and bigots reprove, I court the effusions that spring from the heart Which throbs with delight to the first kiss of love.

5.

Your shepherds, your flocks*, those fantastical themes, Perhaps may amuse, yet they never can move: Arcadia displays but a region of dreams;

What are visions like these to the first kiss of love?

6.

Oh! cease to affirm that man, since his birth†,
From Adam till now, has with wretchedness strove;
Some portion of paradise still is on earth,

And Eden revives in the first kiss of love.

*Your shepherds, your pipes," &c.-Private volume.-Ed. "Oh! cease to affirm that man, from his birth," &c.-Privat volume.-ED.

7.

When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past-
For years fleet away with the wings of the dove-
The dearest remembrance will still be the last,
Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love.

TO M

1.

On! did those eyes, instead of fire,
With bright but mild affection shine,
Though they might kindle less desire,
Love, more than mortal, would be thine.

2.

For thou art form'd so heavenly fair,
Howe'er those orbs may wildly beam,
We must admire, but still despair;
That fatal glance forbids esteem.

3.

When Nature stamp'd thy beauteous birth,
So much perfection in thee shone,

She fear'd that, too divine for earth,

The skies might claim thee for their own:

4.

Therefore, to guard her dearest work,
Lest angels might dispute the prize,
She bade a secret lightning lurk
Within those once celestial eyes.

5.

These might the boldest sylph appal,
When gleaming with meridian blaze;
Thy beauty must enrapture all,

But who can dare thine ardent gaze?

6.

'Tis said that Berenice's hair

In stars adorns the vault of heaven;
But they would ne'er permit thee there,
Thou wouldst so far outshine the seven.

7.

For did those eyes as planets roll,
Thy sister-lights would scarce appear:
E'en suns, which systems now control,
Would twinkle dimly through their sphere.

1806.

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TO WOMAN.

WOMAN! experience might have told me
That all must love thee who behold thee;
Surely experience might have taught
Thy firmest promises are nought;
But placed in all thy charms before me,
All I forget but to adore thee.

Oh Memory! thou choicest blessing
When join'd with hope, when still possessing,
But how much cursed by every lover
When hope is fled and passion's over.
Woman, that fair and fond deceiver,
How prompt are striplings to believe her!
How throbs the pulse when first we view
The eye
that rolls in glossy blue,
Or sparkles black, or mildly throws
A beam from under hazel brows!
How quick we credit every oath,

And hear her plight the willing troth!
Fondly we hope 'twill last for aye,
When, lo! she changes in a day.
This record will for ever stand,

"Woman, thy vows are traced in sand*”

*The last line is almost a literal translation from a Spanish proverb.

TO M. S. G.

1.

WHEN I dream that you love me, you'll surely forgive;
Extend not your anger to sleep;

For in visions alone your affection can live,—
I rise, and it leaves me to weep.

2.

Then, Morpheus! envelope my faculties fast,

Shed o'er me your languor benign;

Should the dream of to-night but resemble the last, What rapture celestial is mine!

3.

They tell us that slumber, the sister of death,

Mortality's emblem is given;

To fate how I long to resign my frail breath,

If this be a foretaste of heaven!

4.

Ah! frown not, sweet lady, unbend your soft brow, Nor deem me too happy in this;

If I sin in my dream, I atone for it how,

Thus doom'd but to gaze upon bliss.

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