The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts
compiled by William Fraser
London: William Pickering,
1828
| [Page 202] |  |
| Stanzas addressed to a lady on her recovery with unblemished looks, |
| from a severe attack of pain. |
| 'TWAS my last waking thought, How can it be, | 1 |
| That thou, sweet friend, such anguish should'st | 2 |
| endure? | 3 |
| When straight from Dreamland came a Dwarf, and he | 4 |
| Could tell the cause, forsooth, and knew the cure. | 5 |
| Methought he fronted me with peering look, | 6 |
| Fix'd on my heart; and read aloud in game, | 7 |
| The loves and griefs therein, as from a book; | 8 |
| And utter'd praise like one who wish'd to blame. | 9 |
| In every heart (quoth he) since Adam's sin, | 10 |
| TWO FOUNTS there are, of SUFFERING and of CHEER, | 11 |
| That to let forth, and this to keep within! | 12 |
| But she, whose aspect I find imaged here, | 13 |
| [Page 203] |  |
| Of pleasure only will to all dispense, | 14 |
| That Fount alone unlock, by no distress | 15 |
| Choked or turn' inward; but still issue thence | 16 |
| Unconquer'd cheer, persistent loveliness. | 17 |
| As on the driving cloud the shiny bow, | 18 |
| That gracious thing made up of tears and light, | 19 |
| Mid the wild rack, and rain that slants below, | 20 |
| Stands smiling forth unmov'd, and freshly bright: | 21 |
| As though the spirits of all lovely flowers, | 22 |
| Inweaving each its wreath and dewy crown, | 23 |
| Or ere they sank to earth in vernal showers, | 24 |
| Had built a bridge to tempt the angels down. | 25 |
| Ev'n so, Eliza! on that face of thine, | 26 |
| On that benignant face, whose look alone | 27 |
| 'The soul's translucence through her crystal shrine!) | 28 |
| Has power to soothe all anguish but thine own. | 29 |
| A Beauty hovers still, and ne'er takes wing | 30 |
| But with a silent charm compels the stern, | 31 |
| And fost'ring genius of the BITTER SPRING, | 32 |
| To shrink aback, and cower upon his urn. | 33 |
| Who then needs wonder, if (no outlet found | 34 |
| In passion, spleen, or strife,) the FOUNT OF PAIN, | 35 |
| O'erflowing beats against its lovely mound, | 36 |
| And in wild flashes shoots from heart to brain? | 37 |
| [Page 204] |  |
| Sleep, and the Dwarf with that unsteady gleam, | 38 |
| On his rais'd lip, that aped a critic smile, | 39 |
| Had pass'd: yet I, my sad thoughts to beguile, | 40 |
| Lay weaving on the tissue of my dream. | 41 |
| Till audibly at length I cried, as though | 42 |
| Thou hadst indeed been present to my eyes, | 43 |
| O sweet, sweet sufferer! if the case be so, | 44 |
| I pray thee be less good, less sweet, less wise! | 45 |
| In every look a barbed arrow send, | 46 |
| On those soft lips let scorn and anger live! | 47 |
| Do any thing, rather than thus, sweet friend! | 48 |
| Hoard for thyself the pain thou wilt not give! | 49 |
from The Bijou, 1828, pp. 202-204 |
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