Too well those lovely lips disclose The triumphs of the opening Rose; O fair! O graceful! bid them prove As pa.s.sive to the breath of Love. 20 In tender accents, faint and low, Well-pleas"d I hear the whisper"d "No!"
The whispered "No"--how little meant!
Sweet Falsehood that endears Consent!
For on those lovely lips the while 25 Dawns the soft relenting smile, And tempts with feign"d dissuasion coy The gentle violence of Joy.
? 1794.
FOOTNOTES:
[63:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.
LINENOTES:
t.i.tle] Ode MS. E: Effusion xxviii 1796: The Kiss 1797, 1828, 1829, 1834: To Sara 1803. _MSS. of_ The Kiss _are included in the Estlin volume and in S. T. C."s quarto copy-book_.
[11-15]
Vigor to his languid wing The Rose"s fragrant kisses bring, And He o"er all her brighten"d hue Flings the glitter of the dew.
See she bends her bashful head.
MS. E.
[13-14]
And He o"er all her brighten"d hue Sheds the glitter of the dew.
MS. 4{o} erased.
[18] The fragrant triumphs of the Rose. MS. E.
[26] Dawns] Dawn"d MS. E.
[27] And] That MS. E.
TO A YOUNG LADY[64:1]
WITH A POEM ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Much on my early youth I love to dwell, Ere yet I bade that friendly dome farewell, Where first, beneath the echoing cloisters pale, I heard of guilt and wonder"d at the tale!
Yet though the hours flew by on careless wing, 5 Full heavily of Sorrow would I sing.
Aye as the Star of Evening flung its beam In broken radiance on the wavy stream, My soul amid the pensive twilight gloom Mourn"d with the breeze, O Lee Boo![64:2] o"er thy tomb. 10 Where"er I wander"d, Pity still was near, Breath"d from the heart and glisten"d in the tear: No knell that toll"d but fill"d my anxious eye, And suffering Nature wept that _one_ should die![65:1]
Thus to sad sympathies I sooth"d my breast, 15 Calm, as the rainbow in the weeping West: When slumbering Freedom roused by high Disdain With giant Fury burst her triple chain!
Fierce on her front the blasting Dog-star glow"d; Her banners, like a midnight meteor, flow"d; 20 Amid the yelling of the storm-rent skies!
She came, and scatter"d battles from her eyes!
Then Exultation waked the patriot fire And swept with wild hand the Tyrtaean lyre: Red from the Tyrant"s wound I shook the lance, 25 And strode in joy the reeking plains of France!
Fallen is the Oppressor, friendless, ghastly, low, And my heart aches, though Mercy struck the blow.
With wearied thought once more I seek the shade, Where peaceful Virtue weaves the Myrtle braid. 30 And O! if Eyes whose holy glances roll, Swift messengers, and eloquent of soul; If Smiles more winning, and a gentler Mien Than the love-wilder"d Maniac"s brain hath seen Shaping celestial forms in vacant air, 35 If these demand the empa.s.sion"d Poet"s care-- If Mirth and soften"d Sense and Wit refined, The blameless features of a lovely mind; Then haply shall my trembling hand a.s.sign No fading wreath to Beauty"s saintly shrine. 40 Nor, Sara! thou these early flowers refuse-- Ne"er lurk"d the snake beneath their simple hues; No purple bloom the Child of Nature brings From Flattery"s night-shade: as he feels he sings.
_September_ 1794.
FOOTNOTES:
[64:1] First published in _The Watchman_, No. I, March 1, 1796: included in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Three MSS. are extant: (1) the poem as sent to Southey in a letter dated Oct. 21, 1794 (see _Letters of S. T. C._, 1855, i. 94, 95); (2) the Estlin volume; (3) the MS. 4{o} copy-book.
[64:2] Lee Boo, the son of Abba Thule, Prince of the Pelew Islands, came over to England with Captain Wilson, died of the small-pox, and is buried in Greenwich churchyard. See Keate"s _Account of the Pelew Islands_. 1788.
[65:1] And suffering Nature, &c. Southey"s _Retrospect_.
"When eager patriots fly the news to spread Of glorious conquest, and of thousands dead; All feel the mighty glow of victor joy--
But if extended on the gory plain, And, s.n.a.t.c.h"d in conquest, some lov"d friend be slain, Affection"s tears will dim the sorrowing eye, And suffering Nature grieve that one should die."
From the _Retrospect_ by Robert Southey, published by Dilly [1795, pp.
9, 10]. _MS. 4{o}._
LINENOTES:
t.i.tle] Verses addressed to a Lady with a poem relative to a recent event in the French Revolution MS. E.
[2] friendly] guardian MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.
[3] cloisters] cloister MS. E.
[5] careless] rosy MS. E.
[9] My pensive soul amid the twilight gloom MS. Letter, 1794.
[10] Boo] Bo MS. E.
[12] glisten"d] glitter"d MS. Letter, 1794.
[13] anxious] anguish"d MS. Letter, 1794.
[16] Calm] Bright MS. E.
[17] by] with 1829.