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IMITATION OF LINES

ADDRESSED BY M. D—, A YOUNG MAN OF TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF AGE, THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, TO A YOUNG LADY TO WHOM HE WAS ENGAGED. 1794.

I.
1 THE hour that calls to death is near,
2 It brings to me no throb of fear;
3 The breast that honour arms, can brave
4 The murd'rer's steel, th' untimely grave;
5 But thou, to whom I gave my heart,
6 From thee for ever must I part?
7 Wilt thou not hear my latest sigh?
8 Ah, 'tis a cruel task to die!
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II.
9 To-morrow, my clos'd eyes no more
10 Shall gaze on beauty I adore;
11 To-morrow, sadd'ning every grace,
12 Unceasing tears shall bathe thy face;
13 To-morrow, chill'd by death's cold grasp,
14 This hand no longer thine shall clasp;
15 For thou no more wilt thou be nigh
16 Ah, 'tis a cruel task to die!

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Title (in Source Edition): IMITATION OF LINES ADDRESSED BY M. D—, A YOUNG MAN OF TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF AGE, THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, TO A YOUNG LADY TO WHOM HE WAS ENGAGED. — 1794.
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Williams, Helen Maria, 1759-1827. Poems on various subjects: with introductory remarks on the present state of science and literature in France. London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823, pp. [237]-238.  (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Helen Maria Williams