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TO A WEEPING WILLOW.

HAIL, verdant emblem of Dejection's form,
Bending submissive to the sullen storm!
A sympathising charm thy shades impart,
To each lorn grief that cankers in the heart:
Let then a pensive Muse her tribute bring
To thee, fair Willow! drooping o'er the spring.
To soothing themes thou shalt the lays inspire,
And thy soft branches grace her sylvan lyre:
Clear in thy limpid glass are waving seen
Thy pendent boughs, reflected in the stream;
In flexile negligence they sweep the wave,

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Bow their green heads, and in the current lave;
Whose rippling eddies, as they murm'ring glide,
Play round thy image in its lucid tide.
Thy fostering shades let Sorrow's votary seek,
And oft in lonely woe her vigils keep.
Here the pale victim of a hopeless flame
Shall breathe in tears some heart-recorded name :
Woo the calm'd feelings Solitude can yield,
And far from festive crowds her anguish shield;
Turn from a careless world her aching breast,
Haunt thy lov'd shade, and sink to transient rest.

Oft thy wan leaves shall bind her thoughtful brow,
In fond remembrance of the plighted vow,
And to her with'ring heart the wreath shall prove
A sad memento of ill-fated love.

Congenial

Congenial to her wish, thy leafy arms
In bow'ry veil shall wrap her faded charms,
While plaintive Zephyr still returns her sighs,
Fans thy fair sprays, and in their foliage dies.
Here too more sombrous feelings may repose,
To shelter griefs that mem'ry oft bestows.
Here shall Affection consecrate her tears,
For those she mourn'd upon their early biers;
While Fancy sketches, in the twilight glooms,
Each friend lamented in their distant tombs;
Ideal vision brings their spirits nigh
On vap'ry clouds before her wand'ring eye;
Their shrouded forms still to her soul are dear,
And hallow'd whisp'rings greet her mental ear;
While Twilight drops from ev'ry humid leaf,
Soft tears of pity to her sacred grief!

Heywood Hill,
August, 1800.

TO THE RENEALMIA*:

A BEAUTIFUL PLANT, BENDING OVER THE WATER, AND DROPPING A BEAUTIFUL GUM.

BRIGHT Renealmia! why in pensive grace
Bends o'er th' enamour'd stream thy lovely face?
With the green Naiad dost thou wish to dwell,
A fragrant off'ring to her pearly cell?

Or

• The Renealmia hangs over the waters like the weeping willow, in the same elegant attitude, and its clustered flowers are pendent, and continu

ally

Or does fond Zephyrus with too rude a gale
From thy rich bosom balmy sweets exhale?
Still to the wave thus bows thy glowing head,
And gives thy image to its liquid bed.

Less beauteous forms might view with conscious pride Their hues reflected in the glassy tide;

Whilst thou, fair plant! but think'st thy fading near, Droop'st in thy bloom, and shedd'st a spicy tear.

THE MOURNER.

WITH pallid cheek and pensive air,
Elvira trembling stood,
Lean'd her shrunk form against the cliff,
And view'd the ruthless flood.

The settled gaze, the rayless eye

Proclaim'd her bosom care;

For all that guiltless sorrow owns
Was deeply planted there.

ally weep a sweet fluid, like a tear. It is a reed so flexile, fas to be blown so as often to touch or dip in the water; and from this property is called nodding. It is the sweetest flower in the temple of Flora, as the Snowdrop is the most simple.The above poetic description of this flower, being sent by the fair author to Dr. Thornton, is to share the honour of her Snow-drop by being transplanted into the Temple of Flora, of which the Doctor justly deems them worthy.

No tear the lovely wanderer shed,
No throb convulsed her breast;

For grief a sullen opiate gave

That counterfeited rest.

From festive roofs to rugged rocks
The sad Enthusiast strays;
From pomp and pleasure turns aside,
On Nature's works to gaze:

Stupendous o'er her fragile form
A mountain met the skies;
While at its base-the angry surge
In awful cadence dies.

Touch'd by the scene, her shatter'd mind
More equal tone regains;
Checks the wild impotence of thought,
That oft her fate arraigns.

In contemplation of the Pow'r

Who hears the Mourner's pray'r

Her struggling Spirit lowly bow'd,
And Patience chas'd Despair.

ON

ON A FRIEND ASSERTING, "LOVE NEVER EXISTED
LONG WITHOUT HOPE."

DELUSIVE God! how fleet thy reign!

What heart canst thou alarm,
When HOPE refuses her support,

Who gives thee pow'r to charm?

'Tis SHE sustains thy glowing throne,
And gilds thy flow'ry way :
And when no more she aids thy cause,
How transient is thy sway!

Or if still ling'ring in the breast,

Thy captive to retain,

The roses fade that form'd thy bonds,

And thorns alone remain.

Then think not, despot, to usurp the heart,
Where Hope's bright rays no cheering warmth impart.

TO REPENTANCE.

WRITTEN IN THE YAAR 1799.

AH! why to me, unwelcome guest,
Dost thou intrude thy name;
Why offer me the tear-steep'd vest
That wraps thy meagre frame?

VOL. II.

2 A

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