Josias Homely


To Louise

Yes, I could look upon thee.
With heart too full of love :
Yet O, my eye must shun thee,
My fancy from thee rove.
My ear could drink with fondness
The soft flow of thy song,
Which falls in heedless sweetness
From thy mirthful artless tongue.

As like a new found blossom
Thee on my path I find,
Or like a fairy vision
To my benighted mind :
Feelings long dead within me
Their brio-ht light would relume—;
'Tis like a beam of evening
Upon the silent tomb.

Or like a gust of melody
At midnight on the waste.
Which cheers the pilgrims fainting steps
By some spirit breathed in haste.
Tlie sweet delusion vanishes,
I bid the dream depart,
For O I must not offer thee
A blighted broken heart.
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