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Lines               TEI-encoded version


"Lines"


Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

[In The Keepsake for 1832 (London, UK: Longman, etc, 1831), p. 264: ]

     Though grief may sometimes leave the weary breast,
     And grant a respite of a moment's rest,
     She but returns with renovated power,
     And pays each moment's absence with an hour.
5     What images does mem'ry call to view,
     Deck'd in a smiling or a sombre hue!
     Now gay as when life's current fill'd the heart,
     Ere yet we knew what grief it is to part;
     Now sad as when death struck the fatal blow,
10     And bow'd us to the very earth in wo.
     The fondly loved -- the lost -- the wept appear --
     Affection's tones still thrill upon the ear,
     And seem to ask -- "Canst thou forget, and smile,
     While in the grave we darkly sleep the while?" --
15     Ah, no! though grief may leave the weary breast,
     And grant the respite of a moment"s rest,
     She but returns with renovated power,
     And pays each moment"s absence with an hour.


Date: 1831 (Coding Revisions: 12/30/2005). Author: Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (Coding Revisions: Laura Mandell).
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