ON THE AUTHOR'S BIRTH-DAY Rebekah Carmichael (later Hay) Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T104666 Carmichael, Miss (Rebekah) (fl. 1790-1806). Poems. Edinburgh Peter Hill 1790 pp. 91-92. 92p.

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ON THE AUTHOR'S BIRTH-DAY Thus lowly bending on my parent earth , I view with tears the day that gave me birth ; Since I had power to think I ne'er could find Myself of any service to mankind ; Tho' oft this vain , this giddy foolish heart , For others griefs does most severely smart ; And yet I ne'er found means , or never could , But this I know , I never did them good . Me whom the iron hand of fate does press , Tho' most familiar , never felt the less ; Scorn'd by those friends with whom I once could vie , Without one kind companion doom'd to sigh , I feel new causes , each succeeding morn , To mourn the day when such a wretch was born . But O ! Almighty Father ! if I dare To left my eyes to thee , accept this prayer ; Let ne'er ambition fire my youthful breast , Nor earthly trifles rob my soul of rest . May I ne'er heave a sigh for dirty pelf , Or any thing that but concerns myself , Unless my sins : O ! may they be forgiv'n , And all my happiness be plac'd in heav'n ! O might I be enabled to relieve The wants , and sooth the cares of those that grieve ; I'd view my birth-day with a heart elate , And leave the world without the least regret .