The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts
compiled by William Fraser
London: William Pickering,
1828
| [Page 77] |  |
| COME ye forth to our revel by moonlight, | 1 |
| With your lutes and your spirits in tune; | 2 |
| The dew falls to- night like an odour, | 3 |
| Stars weep o'er our last day in June. | 4 |
| Come maids leave the loom and its purple, | 5 |
| Though the robe of a monarch were there; | 6 |
| Seek your mirror, I know 'tis your dearest, | 7 |
| And be it to- night your sole care. | 8 |
| Braid ye your curls in their thousands, | 9 |
| Whether dark as the raven's dark wing, | 10 |
| Or bright as that clear summer colour, | 11 |
| When sunshine lights every ring. | 12 |
| On each snow ankle lace silken sandal, | 13 |
| Don the robes like the neck they hide white; | 14 |
| Then come forth like planets from darkness, | 15 |
| Or like lilies at day- break's first light. | 16 |
| [Page 78] |  |
| Is there one who half regal in beauty, | 17 |
| Would be regal in pearl and in gem; | 18 |
| Let her wreath her a crown of red roses, | 19 |
| No rubies are equal to them. | 20 |
| Is there one who sits languid and lonely, | 21 |
| With her fair face bowed down on her hand, | 22 |
| With a pale cheek and glittering eyelash, | 23 |
| And careless locks 'scaped from their band. | 24 |
| For a lover not worth that eye's tear- drop, | 25 |
| Not worth that sweet mouth's rosy kiss, | 26 |
| Nor that cheek though 'tis faded to paleness; | 27 |
| I know not the lover that is. | 28 |
| Let her bind up her beautiful tresses; | 29 |
| Call her wandering rose back again; | 30 |
| And for one prisoner 'scaping her bondage, | 31 |
| A hundred shall carry her chain. | 32 |
| Come, gallants, the gay and the graceful, | 33 |
| With hearts like the light plumes ye wear; | 34 |
| Eyes all but divine light our revel, | 35 |
| Like the stars in whose beauty they share. | 36 |
| Come ye, for the wine cups are mantling, | 37 |
| Some clear as the morning's first light; | 38 |
| Others touched with the evening's last crimson, | 39 |
| Or the blush that may meet ye to night. | 40 |
| [Page 79] |  |
| There are plenty of sorrows to chill us, | 41 |
| And troubles last on to the grave; | 42 |
| But the coldest glacier has its rose- tint, | 43 |
| And froth rides the stormiest wave. | 44 |
| Oh! Hope will spring up from its ashes, | 45 |
| With plumage as bright as before; | 46 |
| And pleasures like lamps in a palace, | 47 |
| If extinct, you need only light more. | 48 |
| When one vein of silver's exhausted, | 49 |
| 'Tis easy another to try; | 50 |
| There are fountains enough in the desert, | 51 |
| Though that by your palm- tree be dry: | 52 |
| When an India of gems is around you, | 53 |
| Why ask for the one you have not? | 54 |
| Though the roc in your hall may be wanting, | 55 |
| Be contented with what you have got. | 56 |
| Come to- night, for the white blossomed myrtle | 57 |
| Is flinging its love- sighs around; | 58 |
| And beneath like the veiled eastern beauties, | 59 |
| The violets peep from the ground. | 60 |
| Seek ye for gold and for silver, | 61 |
| There are both on these bright orange- trees; | 62 |
| And never in Persia the moonlight | 63 |
| Wept o'er roses more blushing than these. | 64 |
| [Page 80] |  |
| There are fireflies sparkling by myriads, | 65 |
| The fountain wave dances in light; | 66 |
| Hark! the mandolin's first notes are waking, | 67 |
| And soft steps break the sleeping of the night. | 68 |
| Then come all the young and the graceful, | 69 |
| Come gay as the lovely should be, | 70 |
| 'Tis much in this world's toil and trouble, | 71 |
| To let one midnight pass Sans Souci. | 72 |
from The Bijou, 1828, pp. 77-80 |
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