A LAMENT. BY MRS. OPIE. THERE was an eye whose partial glance Could listen to kind praise of me. There was a heart Time only made Still longed and pined for my return. There was a lip which always breathed My welcome spoke with heartfelt gladness. There was a mind, whose vigorous powers Till thence its dearest joys it drew. There was a love that oft for me With anxious fears would overflow; And wept and prayed for me, and sought That eye is closed, and deaf that ear, Which death alone from mine could sever! And lost to me that ardent mind, Which loved my varied tasks to see; And, Oh! of all the praise I gained, This was the dearest far to me! Now I, unloved, uncheered, alone, But, "Father of the fatherless," O!Thou that hear'st the orphan's cry, And dwellest with the contrite heart," As well as in "Thy place on high❞— O Lord! though like a faded leaf, I struggle down life's stormy tide, That awful tide which leads to Thee ; Still, Lord! to thee the voice of praise SONNET. (To a Young Lady, with the FLORA DOMESTICA.) A GLASS which thou may'st look in, and discover A glass thou canst not bend too fondly over, Young LADY-FLOWER, the bard doth send to thee! Be thy smile bright as HEART's-EASE round her throws, Thy blushes pure as MAIDEN BLUSHES be! But, Oh! when thou hast found, like these, a lover, May'st thou not find, like these, thy ZEPHYR but a rover! GEORGE DARLEY. |