[Page 49]
THE RECALL TO AFFECTION.
1 Oh! stay Affection; pray thee stay!
2 What have I said — or meant to say?
3 'Twas love, e'en love the trespass caus'd
4 That warmth of speech, which scarce was clos'd
[Page 50]5 Ere the hard sentence tore my frame,
6 And dy'd my cheek with honest shame.
7 Regret came shivering through my veins,
8 And bound my tongue in iron chains;
9 My soul in prison seem'd to be,
10 And ever must if torn from thee;
11 One look of thine, when sweetly kind,
12 Can overturn a world of mind!
13 The stern resolves that pride has made,
14 At thy soft touch in vapour fade;
15 Thy smile, that rules the inmost soul,
16 Can every harsh resolve control.
17 Return, my lov'd companion dear,
18 The solace of each former year!
19 Else life, through many a sickening day,
20 Must slowly, slowly creep away;
21 E'en when thou bound'st this aching brow,
22 And sweetly cheer'd, I know not how,
23 Yet the dull hour, with weary knell,
24 Seem'd to toll on the passing bell.
25 If not for thee, this throbbing breast
26 Had ne'er enjoy'd the balm of rest;
27 Rest! — did I say? no bliss had known,
28 The blush of Nature by had flown,
29 Or o'er the senses vainly stray'd,
30 Hadst thou not wander'd in the shade;
31 Hadst thou not seen the clouds of morn,
32 On purple pinions lightly borne,
33 Uprear the canopy of day,
34 And e'er his chariot float away;
[Page 51]35 Hadst thou not mark'd the evening shade,
36 In all her changeful colours fade; —
37 The golden glow, the sapphire hue,
38 The rosy red, the melting blue,
39 The soft sea-green with yellow tinge,
40 The curling clouds with skirts of fringe; —
41 This eye had ne'er beheld one charm,
42 Or felt the glow of nature warm;
43 Nor had she seen one dropping shower
44 Bring back to life the fainting flower;
45 Or the tall woods their arches spread
46 In Gothic cloister over head;
47 While the pale moon, with lamp-like beam,
48 In tremors lent her silvery stream;
49 "Yon drops of flame that stud the sky"
50 Had seem'd plain stars to my poor eye,
51 Until these orbs, with glory bound,
52 By thee were call'd fair worlds around!
53 No; source of pleasure! 'twas thy soul
54 That brought me to conceive the whole.
55 The wish to please new thoughts inspir'd,
56 And I grew learn'd where thou admir'd;
57 To be companion meet I strove,
58 With all the self-taught lore of love,
59 Lov'd Nature as she ought to be;
60 For loving her, was loving thee!
61 But should'st thou leave this vacant heart,
62 And should we, should we ever part,
63 E'en Nature's self would grow less dear,
64 And I still shed the fretful tear.
Source edition
Blamire, Susanna, 1747-1794. The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire “The muse of Cumberland.” Now for the first time collected by Henry Lonsdale, M.D. with a preface, memoir, and notes by Patrick Maxwell, ... Edinburgh: John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle. MDCCCXLII., 1842, pp. 49-51. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [42.256].)
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 Susanna Blamire
- 'TWAS WHEN THE SUN SLID DOWN YON HILL. ()
- ADDRESS TO HEALTH. — 1784. ()
- ADDRESS TO MISS J. GALE ON HER MARRIAGE WITH THE REV. F. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. ()
- THE ADIEU AND RECALL TO LOVE. ()
- AE NIGHT IN DARK DECEMBER. ()
- AGAIN MAUN ABSENCE CHILL MY SOUL. ()
- THE AULD CARLE WAD TAK ME FAIN. ()
- AULD ROBIN FORBES. ()
- BARLEY BROTH. ()
- BEHOLD, MY AMANDA. ()
- THE BOWER OF ELEGANCE. ADDRESSED TO A VERY ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN. ()
- BRIDE-CAKE. ()
- A CALL TO HOPE. 22D MAY, 1792. ()
- A CAUTION TO MISS B. ()
- THE CHELSEA PENSIONERS. ()
- COME, MORTALS, ENLIVEN THE HOUR. ()
- THE CUMBERLAND SCOLD. ()
- A CURE FOR LOVE. ()
- DEAR NANCY. ()
- THE DESCENT OF PITY. 20TH NOVEMBER, 1781. ()
- EDWIN AND ALICIA. A TALE. ()
- AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF MRS DACRE. ()
- EPISTLE TO HER FRIENDS AT GARTMORE. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO MISS ISABELLA GRAHAM OF GARTMORE. ()
- THE FAREWELL TO AFFECTION. ()
- FOR THE CARLISLE HUNT. November, 1788 ()
- HAD MY DADDIE LEFT ME GEAR ENOUGH. ()
- HOPE. ()
- I AM OF A TEMPER FIXED AS A DECREE. ()
- I'LL HAE A NEW COATIE. ()
- I'M TIBBY FOWLER O' THE GLEN. ()
- I'VE GOTTEN A ROCK, I'VE GOTTEN A REEL. ()
- IN THAT EYE WHERE EXPRESSION. ()
- IN THE DREAM OF THE MOMENT. ()
- IN THE SEARCH OF GOOD HUMOUR. ()
- THE INVITATION. TO TWO SISTERS. ()
- LETTERS OF THE LOVERS. ()
- THE LILY OF THE VALLEY, CHOSEN THE EMBLEM OF INNOCENCE. ()
- THE LILY'S TRIUMPH OVER THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOSS OF THE ROEBUCK. ()
- MAY NOT THE LOVE OF PRAISE BE AN INCENTIVE TO VIRTUE? ()
- THE MEETING. ()
- MOONLIGHT. ()
- THE NABOB. ()
- NAY, NAY, CENSOR TIME. ()
- NOW SANDY MAUN AWA. ()
- THE NUN'S RETURN TO THE WORLD, BY THE DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE, FEBRUARY, 1790. ()
- O BID ME NOT TO WANDER. Written when earnestly entreated to go to the South of France for the recovery of her health. ()
- O DINNA THINK, MY BONNIE LASS. ()
- O DONALD! YE ARE JUST THE MAN. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, I'VE COURTED LANG. ()
- O JENNY DEAR, THE WORD IS GANE. ()
- O JENNY DEAR. ()
- O THERE IS NOT A SHARPER DART. ()
- O WHERE IS THE SPLENDOUR. ()
- O WHY SHOULD MORTALS SUFFER CARE. ()
- OLD HARRY'S RETURN. ()
- ON COLLINS'S ODE ON THE PASSIONS, AS RECITED BY MRS ESTEN ()
- ON IMAGINED HAPPINESS IN HUMBLE STATIONS. ()
- ON THE DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF MY FRIEND MRS L. 13TH MAY, 1788. ()
- ON THE MARRIAGE OF MISS JOHANNA GALE WITH THE REV. P. GRAHAM, RECTOR OF ARTHURET. 18TH FEBRUARY, 1792. ()
- A PETITION TO APRIL. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS, 1793. ()
- PITY'S DESCENT TO EARTH, AND ADVICE TO FRIENDSHIP. ()
- THE SILLER CROUN. ()
- THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. ()
- SPRING. APRIL, 1786. ()
- STOKLEWATH; OR, THE CUMBRIAN VILLAGE. ()
- THOUGH BACCHUS MAY BOAST. ()
- TO A LADY WHO WENT INTO THE COUNTRY IN APRIL. ()
- TO A LADY, WHO FREQUENTLY WITHDREW FROM COMPANY. ()
- TO THE FLOWER LOVE-IN-IDLENESS, AND A PETITION TO THE FAIRIES TO BRING INDIFFERENCE. ()
- TO-MORROW. WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS. ()
- THE TOILING DAY HIS TASK HAS DUIN. ()
- THE WAEFU' HEART. ()
- WE'VE HED SEC A DURDUM. ()
- WEY, NED, MAN! ()
- WHAT AILS THIS HEART O' MINE! ()
- WHEN HOME WE RETURN. ()
- WHEN NIGHT'S DARK MANTLE. ()
- WHEN SEVEREST FOES IMPENDING. ()
- WHEN THE SOFT TEAR STEALS SILENTLY. ()
- WHEN THE SUNBEAMS OF JOY. ()
- WRITTEN IN A CHURCHYARD, ON SEEING A NUMBER OF CATTLE GRAZING IN IT. ()
- WRITTEN ON A GLOOMY DAY, IN SICKNESS. THACKWOOD, 4TH JUNE, 1786. ()