One in whose gentle bosom I Could pour my secret heart of woes, Like the care-burthened honey-fly That hides his murmurs in the rose,— My earthly Comforter! whose love That, when my spirit won above, George Darley [1795-1846] SONG SHE is not fair to outward view As many maidens be, Her loveliness I never knew Until she smiled on me; Oh! then I saw her eye was bright, But now her looks are coy and cold, Her very frowns are fairer far Than smiles of other maidens are. Hartley Coleridge [1796-1849] A lovelier violet disclose, And her ripe lips the sweetest rose A lute beneath her graceful hand Eileen Aroon 531 But still her tongue Far richer music calls to birth Than all the minstrel power on earth Can give to song. And thus she moves in tender light, And sheds a graceful influence round, Beneath her feet! Charles Swain (1801-1874] EILEEN AROON WHEN like the early rose, Eileen Aroon! Beauty in childhood blows, When, like a diadem, Buds blush around the stem, Which is the fairest gem? — Is it the laughing eye, Eileen Aroon! Is it the timid sigh, Eileen Aroon! Is it the tender tone, Soft as the stringed harp's moan? Eileen Aroon! When like the rising day, Eileen Aroon! Love sends his early ray, What makes his dawning glow, Only the constant know:- I know a valley fair, Eileen Aroon! I knew a cottage there, Eileen Aroon! Far in that valley's shade Eileen Aroon! Who in the song so sweet? Who in the dance so fleet? Dear were her charms to me, Dearest her constancy,— Eileen Aroon! Were she no longer true, What should her lover do? Eileen Aroon! Fly with his broken chain Eileen Aroon! Youth must with time decay, Beauty must fade away, Eileen Aroon! Castles are sacked in war, Chieftains are scattered far, Eileen Aroon! Gerald Griffin [1803-1840] ANNIE LAURIE MAXWELTON braes are bonnie Where early fa's the dew, Gie'd me her promise true To Helen Gie'd me her promise true, Her brow is like the snaw-drift; That e'er the sun shone on- Like dew on the gowan lying Her voice is low and sweet And she's a' the world to me; And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me doun and dee. TO HELEN 533 William Douglas [ ? ] HELEN, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicæan barks of yore, On desperate seas long wont to roam, Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche The agate lamp within thy hand! Edgar Allan Poe [1809-1849] "A VOICE BY THE CEDAR TREE" From "Maud " A VOICE by the cedar tree, I In the meadow under the Hall! She is singing an air that is known to me, II Maud with her exquisite face, And wild voice pealing up to the sunny sky, Silence, beautiful voice! III Be still, for you only trouble the mind Still! I will hear you no more, For your sweetness hardly leaves me a choice Her feet on the meadow grass, and adore, Alfred Tennyson [1809-1892] |