Amatory and Other Poems
Song
I through gay and brilliant places
Long my wayward course had bound,
Oft had gazed on beauteous faces,
But no loved one yet had found.
Careless, onward did I saunter,
Seeking no beloved to see,
Rather dreading such encounter,
Wishing ever to be free.
Thus from all temptation fleeing,
Hoped I long unchecked to rove,
’Till the fair Louisa seeing,—
Who can see her, and not love?
Sol, his splendid robes arrayed in,
Just behind the hills was gone,
When one eve I saw the maiden
Tripping o’er the verdant lawn.
Of a strange, tumultuous feeling,
As I gazed I felt the sway,
And, with brain on fire and reeling,
Homeward quick I bent my way.
Through my bosom rapid darting,
Love ’twas plain I could not brave,
And with boasted freedom parting,
I became Louisa’s slave.