SAMUEL ROGERS. ON A LADY ASLEEP. SLEEP on, and dream of Heaven awhile. Though shut so close thy laughing eyes, Thy rosy lips still wear a smile, And move and breathe delicious sighs! Ah! now soft blushes tinge her cheeks, She starts, she trembles, and she weeps! Sleep on secure! Above controul, Thy thoughts belong to Heaven and thee! And may the secret of thy soul Remain within its sanctuary! ROBERT SOUTHEY. SONNET. Go, Valentine, and tell that lovely maid In fancy view the smile illume her cheek, Court the lone hour when silence stills the grove, And heave the sigh of Memory and of Love. SONNET. I PRAISE thee not, Ariste, that thine eye P Nor yet because that face, surpassing fair, How can I sing of fragrant sighs I ne'er have felt from thee? The heart, 'tis true, may fancy much, Is worth an age of dreaming! Think'st thou, when Julia's lip and breast Inspired my youthful tongue, I coldly spoke of lips unprest, Nor felt the heaven I sung? No, no, the spell that warmed so long Was still my Julia's kiss. And still the girl was paid in song What she had given in bliss! Then beam one burning smile on me, Let me but feel a breath from thee, That rosy mouth alone can bring Oh, lady! how my lip would sing, OH, HAD WE SOME BRIGHT LITTLE ISLE OF OH! had we some bright little isle of our own, In a blue summer ocean, far off and alone, Where a leaf never dies in the still blooming bowers, And the bee banquets on through a whole year of flowers; Where the sun loves to pause That the night only draws A thin veil o'er the day; Where simply to feel that we breathe, that we live, There, with souls ever ardent and pure as the clime, We should love, as they loved in the first golden time; The glow of the sunshine, the balm of the air, Would steal to our hearts, and make all summer there! With affection as free From decline as the bowers, And with Hope, like the bee, Living always on flowers, Our life should resemble a long day of light, I'D MOURN THE HOPES. I'D mourn the hopes that leave me, But, while I've thee before me, With heart so warm and eyes so bright, No clouds can linger o'er me,— That smile turns them all to light! |