Amelia Opie

Then thou hast learnt the secret of my soul,
Officious Friendship has its trust betrayed;
No more I need the bursting sigh control,
Nor summon pride my struggling soul to aid.

"Sweet maid! on whom my wishes rest,
My morning thought, my midnight dream,
O grant Lysander's fond request,
And let those eyes with mercy beam!"Thy coy delays at length give o'er

As o'er the sands the youthful Cynthio strayed,
Moist from the wave he saw a pebble shine,
While, with its borrowed lustre charmed, he said"Henceforth this sparkling treasure shall be mine."But when his hand had dried the…

How I hail this morn's appearing!
It will thee, my love, restore:
Safety danger past endearing,
Sure we meet to part no more!

LE many a fond and blooming maid
Attempts thy heart to gain;
And, by thy fatal smile betrayed,
Thinks not she strives in vain:

This fact is clear….
Both man and
Prize not what's good, but what's uncommon ;
And most delighted still they are

Cease,
Laura, cease, suspect no
This careless heart has learnt to love,
Because on yonder lonely shoreI still at pensive evening rove;

What means that wild and joyful cry?
Why do yon crowds in mean attire Throw thus their ragged arms on high?
In want what can such joy inspire?
And why on every face I meet Now beams a smile, now drops a tear?

There came to Grasmere's pleasant valeA stranger maid in tatters clad,
Whose eyes were wild, whose cheek was pale,
While oft she cried, "Poor Kate is mad!"Four words were all she'd ever say,
Nor would she shelter in a cot;

Originally called the Place de Louis Seize,--next the Place de
Revolution, where the perpetual guillotine stood.
UD Seine, along thy winding
Fair smiles yon plain expanding wide

AS it for this I dearly loved thee?....
But since at length I know thy heart,
And learn no real passion moved thee,
Go

There was a time, poor phrensied maid,
When I could o'er thy grief have mourned,
And still with tears the tale
Of sense by sorrow's sway o'erturned.

Ask not, whence springs my ceaseless sadness,
But let me still the secret keep:
Ask not, why thus in restless
Pass the long hours once given to sleep:

Hail to thy pencil! well its glowing
Has traced those features painted on my heart;
Now, though in distant scenes she soon will rove,
Still here I behold the friend I love—Still see that smile, "

Stranger, that massy, mouldering pile,
Whose ivied ruins load the ground,
Reechoed once to pious
By holy sisters breathed around.

How fondly I gaze on the fast falling-leaves,
That mark, as I wander, the summer's decline;
And then I exclaim, while my conscious heart heaves,"Thus early to droop and to perish be mine!"Yet once I remember, in moments long…

Lo!
Winter drives his horrors round;
Wide o'er the rugged soil they fly;
In their cold spells each stream is bound

I am wearing away like the snow in the sun,
I am wearing away from the pain in my heart;
But ne'er shall he know, who my peace has undone,
How bitter, how lasting, how deep is my smart.I know he would pity—so kind is his soul,…

Stay, lady, stay, for mercy's sake,
And hear a helpless orphan's tale,
Ah! sure my looks must pity wake,'Tis want that makes my cheek so pale.
Yet I was once a mother's pride

[A Report, though false, at that time generally believed.]Fallen are thy towers,
Byzantium! towers that
Before the Turk's dread fury, when he came,
The crescent sparkling amidst Christian blood

SS that cruel doubt, dear youth!
That starting tear, that sigh reprove;
Why dost thou wrong thine Emma's truth,
And think that aught can change my love?

Think not,
Lothario, while I
The bright expression of thy face,
And on thy cheek of crimson

OW hung the dark clouds on Plinlimmon's tall peak,
And slowly, yet surely, the winter drew near;
When Ellen, sweet Ellen, a tear on her cheek,
Exclaimed as we parted, "In May I'll be here."How swiftly I ran up the…

How dear to me the twilight hour!
It breathes, it speaks of pleasures past;
When Laura sought this humble bower,
And o'er it courtly splendours cast.