[Page 71][Page 81]
SONG VI.
1 WHEN first upon your tender cheek
2 I saw the morn of beauty break
3 With mild and chearing beam,
4 I bow'd before your infant shrine,
5 The earliest sighs you had were mine,
6 And you my darling theme.
7 I saw you in that opening morn
8 For beauty's boundless empire born,
[Page 80]9 And first confess'd your sway;
10 And e'er your thoughts, devoid of art,
11 Could learn the value of a heart,
12 I gave my heart away.
13 I watch'd the dawn of every grace,
14 And gaz'd upon that angel face,
15 While yet 'twas safe to gaze;
16 And fondly blest each rising charm,
17 Nor thought such innocence could harm
18 The peace of future days.
19 But now despotic o'er the plains
20 The awful noon of beauty reigns,
21 And kneeling crowds adore;
22 These charms arise too fiercely bright,
23 Danger and death attend the sight,
24 And I must hope no more.
25 Thus to the rising God of day
26 Their early vows the Persians pay,
27 And bless the spreading fire;
28 Whose glowing chariot mounting soon
29 Pours on their heads the burning noon;
30 They sicken, and expire.
About this text
Themes:
Genres:
song
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Source edition
Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia), 1743-1825. Poems. London: printed for Joseph Johnson, 1773, pp. 71-81. vi,138p. ; 4⁰. (ESTC T236; OTA K019955.000) (Page images digitized by New York Public Library.)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, 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 Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin)
- An ADDRESS to the DEITY. ()
- CHARACTERS. ()
- CORSICA. ()
- DELIA, AN ELEGY. ()
- The GROANS of the TANKARD. ()
- HYMN I. ()
- HYMN II. ()
- HYMN III. For EASTER-SUNDAY. ()
- HYMN IV. ()
- HYMN to CONTENT. ()
- HYMN V. ()
- The INVITATION: To MISS B—. ()
- The MOUSE's PETITION, Found in the TRAP where he had been confin'd all Night. ()
- ODE to SPRING. ()
- On a LADY's WRITING. ()
- ON THE Backwardness of the SPRING 1771. ()
- ON THE DEATH OF MRS. JENNINGS. ()
- THE ORIGIN OF SONG-WRITING. ()
- OVID to his WIFE: Imitated from different Parts of his TRISTIA. ()
- SONG II. ()
- SONG III. ()
- SONG IV. ()
- SONG V. ()
- [SONG] I. ()
- A Summer Evening's Meditation. ()
- To a LADY, With some painted FLOWERS. ()
- To MISS R—, On her Attendance on her Mother at BUXTON. ()
- To MRS. P—, With some Drawings of BIRDS and INSECTS. ()
- To WISDOM. ()
- VERSES on MRS. ROWE. ()
- VERSES written in an Alcove. ()