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[Page [245]]
VERSES
ADDRESSED TO MY TWO NEPHEWS, ON SAINT HELEN'S DAY, 1809.
1 DEAR Boys! — dismiss'd awhile from school,
2 From sober learning's thorny rule, —
3 The annual race of glory run,
4 The prize bestow'd, the laurels won, —
5 Ye leave the scientific dome,
6 While noisy rapture hails your home:
7 Home — cherish'd spot! whose magic power
8 Can charm with hope the studious hour;
9 And where the heart — however far —
10 Points, like the needle to its star!
[Page 246]11 And now, with many a fond oration,
12 Ye ask, to crown this dear vacation,
13 Saturnian time of sport and play,
14 A FÊTE! — to grace SAINT HELEN'S DAY!
15 But will the Saint propitious see
16 A Fête dear Boys! prepar'd for me?
17 I! — who her altar never sought,
18 An heretic! who idly thought
19 She liv'd alone in pagan fame,
20 And half forgot her sainted name!
21 But — since that name, entwin'd with palms,
22 The legend's deathless page embalms,
23 And since historic truth must own
24 Her crested votary fill'd a throne —
25 We'll lay our offerings at her shrine,
26 And call her, as she is, divine!
27 Then haste, dear Boys! and deck the bowers,
28 This chosen day, with festive flowers!
29 The votive bouquet joyful bring;
30 And bid your muse, on lofty wing,
[Page 247]31 The steep Parnassian summits climb,
32 And weave the tributary rhyme.
33 The soothing song which ye rehearse —
34 Though form'd of perishable verse,
35 And, like the bouquet, born to die —
36 Shall fill with tears affection's eye;
37 Shall touch, with eloquence confest,
38 The chords which vibrate in her breast!
39 Then hither bring the early friend,
40 With whom your bounding hearts unbend;
41 Till then, in vain the Fête prepared —
42 What Fête, unless by friendship shar'd?
43 Together, happy band! advance;
44 Together frame the sportive dance;
45 Together tread the mimic stage,
46 The TALMAS of another age;
47 And then, to crown this favor'd night,
48 Unquestion'd symbol of delight,
49 The soaring rocket swift shall rise,
50 And, sweeping, gild the midnight skies;
[Page 248]51 Bright wheels of fire shall rapid turn;
52 And suns, that soon must set, shall burn;
53 SAINT HELEN, with a smile, shall view
54 Her rites all paid in order due.
55 The Saint, become my patron now,
56 To her and you I breathe my vow:
57 Listen, dear Boys! nor take amiss
58 A lesson, with a parting kiss —
59 Your life has clos'd its baby span,
60 And childhood ripens into man:
61 On youth's gay threshold now ye tread;
62 The path unfolds, with roses spread,
63 That leads the unsuspecting guest
64 Where Pleasure holds her Circean feast;
65 With bosoms yet from evil free,
66 Now promise to the Saint and me,
67 Oft as the years, on circling wing,
68 This fond returning day shall bring,
69 While o'er the world ye lightly roam,
70 Far from the long-lost scene of home,
[Page 249]71 This day in Pleasure's course to pause,
72 This day let Reason plead her cause!
73 When come the years — for come they must —
74 When her ye love is laid in dust;
75 Her who for you has learn'd to prove
76 A mother's care — a mother's love!
77 From you all ill has sought to chase,
78 And fill a mother's vacant place:
79 Still on this day, to duty true,
80 Remember that she liv'd for you!
81 Ah! give her one recording sigh,
82 Nor pass this day with tearless eye!
83 Still may its chosen hours impart
84 The throb of virtue to the heart,
85 And be the talisman whose spell
86 Shall Passion's wild delirium quell;
87 Controul, with some good angel's power,
88 Seduction in her smiling hour.
89 This day, from all her wiles secure,
90 With nobler hopes, with purpose pure,
[Page 250]91 Resolve to feel that best delight
92 Reserv'd for those who live aright:
93 And thus, dear Boys! your tribute pay;
94 Thus consecrate SAINT HELEN'S DAY!
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Source edition
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. [245]-250. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)
Editorial principles
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
- AN ADDRESS TO POETRY. ()
- AN AMERICAN TALE. ()
- THE BASTILLE, A VISION. ()
- THE CHARTER; ADDRESSED TO MY NEPHEW ATHANASE C. L. COQUEREL, ON HIS WEDDING DAY, 1819. ()
- THE COMPLAINT OF THE GODDESS OF THE GLACIERS TO DOCTOR DARWIN. ()
- DULCE DOMUM, AN OLD LATIN ODE. ()
- DUNCAN, AN ODE. ()
- EDWIN AND ELTRADA, A LEGENDARY TALE. (); EDWIN AND ELTRUDA. ()
- ELEGY ON A YOUNG THRUSH, WHICH ESCAPED FROM THE WRITER'S HAND, AND FALLING DOWN THE AREA OF A HOUSE, COULD NOT BE FOUND. ()
- EUPHELIA, AN ELEGY. ()
- HYMN, IMITATED FROM THE FRENCH. ()
- HYMN, WRITTEN AMONG THE ALPS. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- 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 WRITTEN BY ROUCHER, BELOW HIS PICTURE, WHICH A FELLOW-PRISONER HAD DRAWN, AND WHICH HE SENT TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN THE DAY BEFORE HIS EXECUTION. — 1794. ()
- LINES ADDRESSED TO A. C., AN INFANT, ON HIS FIRST NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1821. ()
- LINES ON THE TOMB OF A FAVOURITE DOG. ()
- LINES TO HELEN, A NEW-BORN INFANT, 1821. ()
- LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF THE BARONESS D' H——, TO HER TWO DAUGHTERS. ()
- LINES WRITTEN ON THE PILLAR ERECTING TO THE MEMORY OF MR. BARLOW, Minister of the United States at Paris, WHO DIED AT NAROWITCH IN POLAND, ON HIS RETURN FROM WILNA, DEC. 26, 1812. ()
- THE LINNET AND THE CAT. ()
- THE MORAI. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- ON THE BILL WHICH WAS PASSED IN ENGLAND FOR REGULATING THE SLAVE-TRADE; A SHORT TIME BEFORE ITS ABOLITION. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PART OF AN IRREGULAR FRAGMENT. ()
- PERUVIAN TALES. ()
- QUEEN MARY'S COMPLAINT. ()
- SCOTCH BALLAD. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONNET ON READING BURNS' “MOUNTAIN DAISY.” ()
- SONNET TO DISAPPOINTMENT. ()
- SONNET TO EXPRESSION. ()
- SONNET TO HOPE. ()
- SONNET TO LOVE. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. BATES. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- SONNET TO PEACE OF MIND. ()
- SONNET TO SIMPLICITY. ()
- SONNET TO THE CALBASSIA-TREE. ()
- SONNET TO THE CURLEW. ()
- SONNET TO THE MOON. ()
- SONNET TO THE STRAWBERRY. ()
- SONNET TO THE TORRID ZONE. ()
- SONNET TO THE WHITE-BIRD OF THE TROPIC. ()
- SONNET TO TWILIGHT. ()
- TO A FRIEND, WHO SENT ME FLOWERS, WHEN CONFINED BY ILLNESS. ()
- TO DR. MOORE, IN ANSWER TO A POETICAL EPISTLE WRITTEN TO ME BY HIM IN WALES, SEPTEMBER 1791. ()
- TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. Author of “The Oriental Memoirs,” WHO ASKED FOR SOME LINES OF MY HAND-WRITING ON LEAVING FRANCE, AFTER HIS CAPTIVITY AT VERDUN. ()
- TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. ON HIS BRINGING ME FLOWERS FROM VAUCLUSE, AND WHICH HE HAD PRESERVED BY MEANS OF AN INGENIOUS PROCESS IN THEIR ORIGINAL BEAUTY. ()
- TO MRS. K—, ON HER SENDING ME ENGLISH CHRISTMAS PLUMB-CAKE, AT PARIS. ()
- TO SENSIBILITY. ()
- TO THE BARON DE HUMBOLDT, ON HIS BRINGING ME SOME FLOWERS IN MARCH. ()
- THE TRAVELLERS IN HASTE; ADDRESSED TO THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ. IN 1814, WHEN MANY ENGLISH ARRIVED AT PARIS, BUT REMAINED A VERY SHORT TIME. ()