[Page [276]]

LINES

TO HELEN, A NEW-BORN INFANT, 1821.

1 She lives that first pulsation of the heart
2 Is life! receive, dear babe, thy destin'd part;
3 Yet frail thy being as the op'ning rose
4 When chill the rude wind blows.
5 But ah, be like the blossom of the vale,
6 Lov'd infant, shelter'd from the mountain gale;
7 On whose meek head descend no ruffling showers,
8 Who lives the span of flowers.
9 And far from thee may sorrow's tempest bend,
10 Nor ever wasting pangs the bosom rend;
11 Calm be thy day of life, and o'er its bloom
12 May evening mildly come!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): LINES TO HELEN, A NEW-BORN INFANT, 1821.
Themes:
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, p. [276].  (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)

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