5. For well I know, that such had been And, Oh! I feel in that was given A blessing never meant for me; Thou wert too like a dream of Heaven, For earthly Love to merit thee. March 14th, 1812. XVIII, On a Cornelian Heart which was broken. 1. ILL-FATED Heart! and can it be That thou shouldst thus be rent in twain? Have years of care for thine and thee Alike been all employed in vain? 2. Yet precious seems each shattered part, And every fragment dearer grown, Since he who wears thee, feels thou art A fitter emblem of his own. VOL. IV. XIX. [This poem and the following were written some years ago.] To a Youthful Friend. 1. Few years have passed since thou and I Were firmest friends, at least in name, And childhood's gay sincerity Preserved our feelings long the same. 2. But now, like me, too well thou know'st What trifles oft the heart recall; And those who once have loved the most Too soon forget they loved at all. 3. And such the change the heart displays, So frail is early friendship's reign, A month's brief lapse, perhaps a day's, Will view thy mind estranged again. 4. If so, it never shall be mine To mourn the loss of such a heart وتا The fault was Nature's fault, not thine, Which made thee fickle as thou art. |