NAY, tempt me not to love again, There was a time when love was sweet, Dear Nea! had I known thee then, Our souls had not been slow to meet! But, oh! this weary heart hath run, So many a time, the rounds of pain, Not even for thee, thou lovely one! Would I endure such pangs again. If there be climes, where never yet The print of beauty's foot was set, Where man may pass his loveless nights, Unfever'd by her false delights, Thither my wounded soul would fly, Where rosy cheek or radiant eye Should bring no more their bliss, their pain, Or fetter me to earth again! Dear absent girl! whose eyes of light, Though little prized when all my own, Now float before me, soft and bright As when they first enamouring shone! How many hours of idle waste, Within those witching arms embraced, Unmindful of the fleeting day, Have I dissolved life's dream away! O bloom of time profusely shed! O moments! simply, vainly fled, Yet sweetly too -- for Love perfumed The flame which thus my life consumed; And brilliant was the chain of flowers, In which he led my victim-hours! Say, Nea dear! could'st thou, like her, When warm to feel and quick to err, Of loving fond, of roving fonder, My thoughtless soul might wish to wander, -- Could'st thou, like her, the wish reclaim, Endearing still, reproaching never, Till all my heart should burn with shame, And be thy own more fix'd than ever? No, no -- on earth there's only one Could bind such faithless folly fast: And sure on earth 'tis I alone Could make such virtue false at last! Nea! the heart which she forsook, For thee were but a worthless shrine -- Go, lovely girl, that angel look Must thrill a soul more pure than mine. Oh! thou shalt be all else to me, That heart can feel or tongue can feign; I'll praise, admire, and worship thee, But must not, dare not love again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR [OR TO] THOSE WHO FAIL by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER A MOTHER'S LOVE by JAMES MONTGOMERY UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 38 by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON A RENOUNCING OF LOVE by THOMAS WYATT VERSES TO A YOUNG FRIEND by BERNARD BARTON SUNRISE OVER THE SIERRAS by HENRY MEADE BLAND SONG, FR. A VISION OF GIORGIONE: GEMMA'S SPRING SONG by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |