Wi' monie a vow and locked embrace That nipt my flower sae early! Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay, O pale, pale now, those rosy lips And closed for aye the sparkling glance But still within my bosom's core ROBERT BURNS. When first I met Thee. HEN first I met thee, warm and young, WHEN There shone such truth about thee, And on thy lip such promise hung, I saw thee change, yet still relied, The heart, whose hopes could make it Deserves that thou shouldst break it. When every tongue thy follies named, WHEN FIRST I MET THEE. Or found, in e'en the faults they blamed, I still was true, when nearer friends But go, deceiver ! Some day, perhaps, thou'lt waken E'en now, though youth its bloom has shed, The few, who loved thee once, have fled, Thy midnight cup is pledged to slaves, The smiling there, like light on graves, I would not now surrender One taintless tear of mine For all thy guilty splendor! And days may come, thou false one! yet, On her who, in thy fortune's fall, With smiles had still received thee, And gladly died to prove thee all Her fancy first believed thee. 'Tis weakness to upbraid thee; Hate cannot wish thee worse Than guilt and shame have made thee. 161 THOMAS Moore. The Specter Boat. A BALLAD. LIGHT rued false Ferdinand to leave a lovely maid forlorn, Who broke her heart and died to hide her blushing cheek from scorn. One night he dreamt he wooed her in their wonted bower of love, Where the flowers sprang thick around them, and the birds sang sweet above. But the scene was swiftly changed into a churchyard's dismal view, And her lips grew black beneath his kiss from love's delicious hue, What more he dreamt, he told to none; but, shuddering, pale, and dumb, Looked out upon the waves like one that knew his hour was come. 'T was now the dead watch of the night-the helm was lashed a-lee, And the ship rode where Mount Ætna lights the deep Levan tine sea; When beneath its glare a boat came, rowed by a woman in her shroud, Who, with eyes that made our blood run cold, stood up and spoke aloud: "Come, traitor, down, for whom my ghost still wanders unforgiven ! Come down, false Ferdinand, for whom I broke my peace with heaven!" It was vain to hold the victim, for he plunged to meet her call, Like the bird that shrieks and flutters in the gazing serpent's thrall. THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS. 163 You may guess the boldest mariner shrunk daunted from the sight, For the Specter and her winding-sheet shone blue with hideous light; Like a fiery wheel the boat spun with the waving of her hand, And round they went, and down they went, as the cock crew from the land. Make no deep scrutiny Into her mutiny, Rash and undutiful; Past all dishonor, Death has left on her Only the beautiful. Still, for all slips of hers One of Eve's family Wipe those poor lips of hers, Oozing so clammily. Loop up her tresses Who was her father? Who was her mother? Had she a sister? Had she a brother? Or was there a dearer one Still, and a nearer one Yet, than all other? Alas! for the rarity Of Christian charity O! it was pitiful! Near a whole city full, |