XV. The Devil quoted Genesis, Like a very learned clerk, How "Noah and his creeping things XVI. He took from the poor, And he gave to the rich, And he shook hands with a Scotchman, He saw with consternation, And back to hell his way did he take, For the Devil thought by a slight mistake It was general conflagration. Sept. 6, 1799 II. LOVE POEMS. Quas hun.ilis tenero stylus olim effudit in ævo, Frons alia est, moresque alii, nova mentis imago, Pectore nunc gelido calidos miseremur amantes, LEWTI, OR THE CIRCASSIAN LOVE-CII AUNT. AT midnight by the stream I ròved, Image of Lewti! from my mind The moon was high, the moonlight gleam Heaved upon Tamaha's stream; But the rock shone brighter far, view The rock half sheltered from my I saw a cloud of palest hue, Till it reached the moon at last: And with such joy I find my Lewti; And even so my pale wan cheek Drinks in as deep a flush of beauty! Nay, treacherous image! leave my mind, If Lewti never will be kind. The little cloud-it floats away, Away it goes; away so soon? And now 'tis whiter than before! As white as my poor cheek will be, Nay, treacherous image! leave my mind- I saw a vapour in the sky, I ne'er beheld so thin a cloud: Hush! my heedless feet from under Slip the crumbling banks for ever: Like echoes to a distant thunder, They plunge into the gentle river. The river-swans have heard my tread, And startle from their reedy bed. O beauteous birds! methinks ye measure Your movements to some heavenly tune! O beauteous birds! 'tis such a pleasure To see you move beneath the moon, I would it were your true delight To sleep by day and wake all night. I know the place where Lewti lies, And creep, like thee, with soundless tread, As these two swans together heave Oh! that she saw me in a dream, And dreamt that I had died for care; All pale and wasted I would seem, 1795. |