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.

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. Helen Maria Williams Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. 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.

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