[Page 271]

The Shawl's Petition,

to Lady Asgill.

1 OH, fairer than the fairest forms
2 Which the bright sun of Persia warms,
3 Though nymphs of Cashmire lead the dance
4 With pliant grace, and beamy glance;
5 And forms of beauty ever play
6 Around the bowers of Moselay;
7 Fairest! thine ear indulgent lend,
8 And to thy suppliant Shawl attend!
9 If, well content, I left for thee
10 Those bowers beyond the Indian sea,
11 And native, fragrant fields of rose
12 Exchanged for Hyperborean snows;
13 If, from those vales of soft perfume,
14 Pride of Tibet's far boasted loom,
[Page 272]
15 I came, well pleased, thy form to deck,
16 And, from thy bending polished neck
17 Around thy graceful shoulders flung,
18 With many an untaught beauty clung,
19 Or added to thy brilliant zone
20 A charm that Venus well might own,
21 Or, fondly twined, in many a fold
22 To shield those lovely limbs from cold,
23 Fairest! thine ear indulgent lend,
24 And to thy suppliant Shawl attend.
25 Oh! by those all attractive charms
26 Thy slender foot, thine ivory arms;
27 By the quick glances of thine eyes,
28 By all that I have seen thee prize;
29 Oh! doom me not in dark disgrace,
30 An exile from Sophia's face,
31 To waste my elegance of bloom
32 In sick and melancholy gloom;
33 Condemned no more in Beauty's train
34 To hear the viol's sprightly strain,
[Page 273]
35 Or woo the amorous zephyr's play
36 Beneath the sunbeam's vernal ray;
37 Banished alike from pleasure's scene,
38 And lovely nature's charms serene,
39 Oh, fairest! doom me not to know
40 How hard it is from thee to go!
41 But if my humble suit be vain,
42 If destined to attend on pain,
43 My joyless days in one dull round,
44 To one eternal sopha bound,
45 Shut from the breath of heaven most pure,
46 Must pass in solitude obscure;
47 At least to cheat these weary hours
48 Appear with all thy gladdening powers,
49 Restore thy sweet society,
50 And bless at once thy friend and me.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The Shawl's Petition, to Lady Asgill.
Author: Mary Tighe (née Blachford)
Themes:
Genres: occasional poem

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Source edition

Tighe, Mary, 1772-1810. Psyche, With Other Poems. London: Printed for LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW, 1811, pp. 271-273. 314p. (Page images digitized from a copy at University of California Libraries.)

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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 Mary Tighe (née Blachford)