[Page [262]]

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.

1 SWEET spoils of consecrated bowers,
2 How dear to me these chosen flowers!
3 I love the simplest bud that blows,
4 I love the meanest weed that grows:
5 Symbols of nature every form
6 That speaks of her this heart can warm;
7 But ye, delicious flowers, assume
8 In fancy's eye a brighter bloom;
9 A dearer pleasure ye diffuse,
10 Cull'd by the fountain of Vaucluse!
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11 For ye were nurtur'd on the sod
12 Where PETRARCH mourn'd, and LAURA trod;
13 Ye grew on that inspiring ground
14 Where love has shed enchantment round;
15 Where still the tear of passion flows,
16 Fond tribute to a poet's woes!
17 Yet, cherish'd flowers, with love and fame
18 This wreath entwines a milder name;
19 Friendship, who better knows than they
20 The spells that smooth our length'ning way,
21 Friendship the blooming off'ring brought;
22 When FORBES the classic fountain sought,
23 For me he cull'd the fresh-blown flowers,
24 And fix'd their hues with potent powers;
25 Their pliant forms with skilful care
26 He seized, and stamp'd duration there;
27 His gift shall ever glad the eye,
28 Nor, like my verse is born to die.

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Title (in Source Edition): 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.
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Genres: occasional poem; address

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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. [262]-263.  (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