The Snake

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THE TEST

I HELD her hand, the pledge of bliss,
Her hand that trembled and withdrew;
She bent her head before my kiss . . .

My heart was sure that hers was true.
Now I have told her I must part,

She shakes my hand, she bids adieu, Nor shuns the kiss. Alas, my heart! Hers never was the heart for you.

Walter Savage Landor [1775-1864]

"THE FAULT IS NOT MINE"

THE fault is not mine if I love you too much,
I loved you too little too long,

Such ever your graces, your tenderness such,
And the music the heart gave the tongue.

A time is now coming when Love must be gone,
Though he never abandoned me yet.
Acknowledge our friendship, our passion disown,
Our follies (ah can you?) forget.

Walter Savage Landor [1775-1864]

THE SNAKE

My love and I, the other day,
Within a myrtle arbor lay,
When near us, from a rosy bed,

A little Snake put forth its head.

"See," said the maid, with laughing eyes-

"Yonder the fatal emblem lies!

Who could expect such hidden harm
Beneath the rose's velvet charm?"

Never did moral thought occur

In more unlucky hour than this; For oh! I just was leading her

To talk of love and think of bliss.

I rose to kill the snake, but she
In pity prayed it might not be.
"No," said the girl-and many a spark
Flashed from her eyelid as she said it-
"Under the rose, or in the dark,

One might, perhaps, have cause to dread it;
But when its wicked eyes appear,

And when we know for what they wink so,
One must be very simple, dear,

To let it sting one-don't you think sc?"
Thomas Moore [1779-1852]

"WHEN I LOVED YOU”

WHEN I loved you, I can't but allow
I had many an exquisite minute;
But the scorn that I feel for you now
Hath even more luxury in it!

Thus, whether we're on or we're off,
Some witchery seems to await you;

To love you is pleasant enough,

And oh! 'tis delicious to hate, you!
Thomas Moore [1779-1852]

A TEMPLE TO FRIENDSHIP

"A TEMPLE to Friendship," said Laura, enchanted, "I'll build in this garden,-the thought is divine!" Her temple was built, and she now only wanted

An image of Friendship to place on the shrine. She flew to a sculptor, who set down before her A Friendship, the fairest his art could invent; But so cold and so dull, that the youthful adorer Saw plainly this was not the idol she meant.

"O never," she cried, "could I think of enshrining An image whose looks are so joyless and dim:But yon little god, upon roses reclining,

We'll make, if you please, sir, a Friendship of him."

The Glove and the Lions

So the bargain was struck. With the little god laden
She joyfully flew to her shrine in the grove:

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"Farewell," said the sculptor, "you're not the first maiden Who came but for Friendship and took away Love!"

Thomas Moore [1779-1852]

THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS

KING FRANCIS was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport,
And one day, as his lions fought, sat looking on the court.
The nobles filled the benches, and the ladies in their pride,
And 'mongst them sat the Count de Lorge, with one for
whom he sighed:

And truly 'twas a gallant thing to see that crowning show,
Valor and love, and a king above, and the royal beasts below.

Ramped and roared the lions, with horrid laughing jaws; They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind went with their paws;

With wallowing might and stifled roar they rolled on one another,

Till all the pit with sand and mane was in a thunderous

smother;

The bloody foam above the bars came whisking through the

air;

Said Francis then, "Faith, gentlemen, we're better here than there."

De Lorge's love o'erheard the King, a beauteous lively dame, With smiling lips and sharp bright eyes, which always seemed the same;

She thought, The Count, my lover, is brave as brave can be;

He surely would do wondrous things to show his love of me;
King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the occasion is divine;
I'll drop my glove to prove his love; great glory will be
mine."

She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then looked at him and smiled;

He bowed, and in a moment leaped among the lions wild;

The leap was quick, return was quick, he has regained his

place,

Then threw the glove, but not with love, right in the lady's face.

"By Heaven," said Francis, "rightly done!" and he rose from where he sat;

"No love," quoth he, "but vanity, sets love a task like that." Leigh Hunt [1784-1859]

TO WOMAN

WOMAN! experience might have told me
That all must love thee who behold thee;
Surely experience might have taught
Thy firmest promises are naught;

But, placed in all thy charms before me,
All I forget, but to adore thee.

Oh, Memory! thou choicest blessing,

When joined with hope, when still possessing;
But how much cursed by every lover,
When hope is fled, and passion's over!
Woman, that fair and fond deceiver,
How prompt are striplings to believe her!
How throbs the pulse when first we view
The eye that rolls in glossy blue,
Or sparkles black, or mildly throws
A beam from under hazel brows!
How quick we credit every oath,
And hear her plight the willing troth!
Fondly we hope 'twill last for aye,
When, lo! she changes in a day.

This record will forever stand,

"Woman, thy vows are traced in sand.”

George Gordon Byron [1788-1824]

LOVE'S SPITE

You take a town you cannot keep;

And, forced in turn to fly,

O'er ruins you have made shall leap
Your deadliest enemy!

Lady Clara Vere de Vere

Her love is yours--and be it so→→→→

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But can you keep it? No, no, no!

Upon her brow we gazed with awe,
And loved, and wished to love, in vain
But when the snow begins to thaw

We shun with scorn the miry plain.
Women with grace may yield: but she
Appeared some Virgin Deity.

Bright was her soul as Dian's crest

Whitening on Vesta's fane its sheen:
Cold looked she as the waveless breast
Of some stone Dian at thirteen.
Men loved: but hope they deemed to be
A sweet Impossibility!

Aubrey Thomas De Vere [1814-1902]

LADY CLARA VERE DE VERE

LADY Clara Vere de Vere,

Of me you shall not win renown:
You thought to break a country heart
For pastime, ere you went to town.
At me you smiled, but unbeguiled
I saw the snare, and I retired:
The daughter of a hundred earls,
You are not one to be desired.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

I know you proud to bear your name, Your pride is yet no mate for mine,

Too proud to care from whence I came.

Nor would I break for your sweet sake

A heart that dotes on truer charms.

A simple maiden in her flower

Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

Some meeker pupil you must find,
For, were you queen of all that is,
I could not stoop to such a mind.