And, when they tread the ruin'd isle, Where rest, at length, the lord and slave, They'll wondering ask, how hands so vile Could conquer hearts so brave? ""Twas fate," they'll say, " a wayward fate Your web of discord wove; And while your tyrants join'd in hate, But hearts fell off, that ought to twine, And man profaned what God had given, Till some were heard to curse the shrine, Where others knelt to heaven!" LESBIA HATH A BEAMING EYE. AIR-Nora Creina. LESBIA hath a beaming eye, But no one knows for whom it beameth; Right and left its arrows fly, But what they aim at no one dreameth! My Nora's lid that seldom rises; In many eyes, But love in yours, my Nora Creina! Lesbia wears a robe of gold, But all so close the nymph hath laced it, Not a charm of beauty's mould Presumes to stay where Nature placed it! Oh! my Nora's gown for me, That floats as wild as mountain breezes, Leaving every beauty free To sink or swell, as heaven pleases! Is loveliness, The dress you wear, my Nora Creina! Lesbia hath a wit refined, But, when its points are gleaming round us, In safer slumber love reposes;— Bed of peace! whose roughest part Wit, though bright, Hath not the light That warms your eyes, my Nora Creina! I SAW THY FORM IN YOUTHFUL PRIME. AIR-Domhnall. I SAW thy form in youthful prime, Would steal before the steps of time, And waste its bloom away, MARY! As streams that run o'er golden mines, Nor seem to know the wealth that shines So, veil'd beneath a simple guise, And that, which charm'd all other eyes, Seem'd worthless in thy own, MARY! If souls could always dwell above, Or, could we keep the souls we love, We ne'er had lost thee here, MARY! Though many a gifted mind we meet, Though fairest forms we see, To live with them is far less sweet Than to remember thee, MARY'! 1 I have here made a feeble effort to imitate that exquisite inscription of SHENSTONE'S" Heu! quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" |