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To Eliza
Eliza! what fools are the Mussulman sect, Who, to woman, deny the soul's future existence; Could they see thee, Eliza! they'd own their defect, And this doctrine would meet with a general resistan
To a Vain Lady
Ah, heedless girl! why thus disclose What ne'er was meant for other ears; Why thus destroy thine own repose, And dig the source of future tears? Oh, thou wilt weep, imprudent maid, While lurking
Sonnet 85: My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still, While comments of your praise richly compil'd, Reserve their character with golden quill, And precious phrase by all the Muses fil'd. I think good thoug
Love Among the Ruins
Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles Miles and miles On the solitary pastures where our sheep Half-asleep Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop As they crop-- Was the
Translation From Horace
Justum et tenacem propositi virum. HOR. 'Odes', iii. 3. I. The man of firm and noble soul No factious clamours can controul; No threat'ning tyrant's darkling brow Can swerve hi
Sonnet 24: Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd, Thy beauty's form in table of my heart; My body is the frame wherein 'tis held, And perspective it is best painter's art. For through the painter mus
Sonnet 111: O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide
O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide, The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, That did not better for my life provide Than public means which public manners breeds. Thence comes it that my name re
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in Beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which Heaven
Song of Saul Before His Last Battle
Warriors and chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord, Heed not the corse, though a King's, in your path: Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath! Thou who art be
Sonnet on Chillon
Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art: For there thy habitation is the heart-- The heart which love of thee alone can bind; And when thy sons to fetters ar
Sonnet 65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality o'ersways their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger than a flower? O! how shall summ
To My Name-Child
1 Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed, Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read. Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down By the English printers,
Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time
When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white; When lofty trees I see b
Of That High World
If that high world, which lies beyond Our own, surviving Love endears; If there the cherished heart be fond, The eye the same, except in tears-- How welcome those untrodden spheres! How sweet th
Sonnet 94: They that have power to hurt, and will do none
They that have power to hurt, and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow; They rightly do inherit
By the Rivers of Babylon We Sat Down and Wept
We sate down and wept by the waters Of Babel, and thought of the day When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters, Made Salem's high places his prey; And Ye, oh her desolate daughters! Were scatte
Sonnet 38: How can my muse want subject to invent
How can my muse want subject to invent, While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse Thine own sweet argument, too excellent For every vulgar paper to rehearse? O! give thy self the thanks, if
Sonnet 54
Of this worlds theatre in which we stay, My love like the spectator ydly sits Beholding me that all the pageants play, Disguysing diversly my troubled wits. Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits, An
Sonnet 108: What's in the brain, that ink may character
What's in the brain, that ink may character, Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit? What's new to speak, what now to register, That may express my love, or thy dear merit? Nothing, sweet boy;
La Revanche
There is no more for me to hope, There is no more for thee to fear; And, if I give my Sorrow scope, That Sorrow thou shalt never hear. Why did I hold thy love so dear? Why shed for such a hear
On Jordan's Banks
On Jordan's banks the Arab's camels stray, On Sion's hill the False One's votaries pray, The Baal-adorer bows on Sinai's steep-- Yet there--even there--Oh God! thy thunders sleep: There--where thy fi
Sonnet 107: Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul Of the wide world dreaming on things to come, Can yet the lease of my true love control, Supposed as forfeit to a confin'd doom. The mortal moon hath her ecl
Sonnet 81: Or I shall live your epitaph to make
Or I shall live your epitaph to make, Or you survive when I in earth am rotten; From hence your memory death cannot take, Although in me each part will be forgotten. Your name from hence immortal life
There came a Day at Summer's full
There came a Day at Summer's full, Entirely for me -- I thought that such were for the Saints, Where Resurrections -- be -- The Sun, as common, went abroad, The flowers, accustomed, blew, As if no so