romantic poems

CONTEMPLATING A HOUSEHOLD GOD .

 Domestic Love! not in proud palace halls
 Is often seen thy beauty to abide;
 Thy dwelling is in lowly cottage walls,
 That in the thickets of the woodbine hide;
 With hum of bees around, and from the side
 Of woody hills some little bubbling spring,
 Shining along through banks with harebells dyed;
 And many a bird to warble on the wing,
When Morn her saffron robe o'er heaven and earth doth fling.

 O! love of loves!—to thy white hand is given

Farewell false Love, thou Oracle of Lyes.
A mortall Foe, an Enymy to reste,
An envious Boy, from whence all cares aryse,
A Bastard borne, a Beast with rage posseste.
A way of Error, a Temple full of Treason,
In all effectes, contrary unto reason.
A poisoned Serpent, coverde all with flowres,
Mother of Sighes, and murtherer of repose.
A Sea of Sorrows, whence ar drawn such showres,
As moisture lends to every grief that growes.
A Poole of guile, a Neste of Deepe Decaipte
A guilded hooke, that holdes a poisoned Bayte.

Most welcome love, thow mortall foe to lies. /
thow roote of life, and ruiner of debate
An Impe of heaven, that troth to vertue ties. /
A soone of choise, that bastard lustes doth hate. /
A waye to fasten fancy most to reason
In all effects, and enemy most to treason. /

A flowre of faith, that will not vade for smart.
mother of trust, and murderer of our woes. /
In sorowes Seas, a Cordiall to the hart
that medcyne gives to every grief that growes
A skoole of witt, a nest of sweet conceit

As the Moon with starry Chitra dwells in azure skies above,
In his lonesome leafy cottage Rama dwelt in Sita's love,

And with Lakshman strong and valiant, quick to labour and obey,
Tales of bygone times recounting Rama passed the livelong day.

And it so befell, a maiden, dweller of the darksome wood,
Led by wand'ring thought or fancy once before the cottage stood,

Surpa-nakha, Raksha maiden, sister of the Raksha lord,
Came and looked with eager longing till her soul was passion-stirred!

Me kindly Rome loves, quotes my books, and buys them;
But till that critic feigning to despise them
Blushed and turned pale, then yawned and looked confounded,
I never felt my fame was surely grounded.

As Glycera was perfect, so
Lycoris is to me,
How can the past be present, tho'
Their futures may agree?

" Love," " Loved," ah, Time's omnipotence!
His grammar rules are crude;
By merely altering a tense
He brings a change of mood.

That diamond, emerald, and sard
Adorn my Stella's hand,
That jaspers bright should deck the bard
I well can understand.

For as he set a lovely lay
With jewels bright and rare,
A few escaped, and these are they
That now his hand doth wear.

None takes such low security
Though he is poor. My praise is just.
For Cordus, tho' he cannot see,
Accepts his lady-love on trust.

Dear Quintus, why resent my joke?
The one-eyed hag of whom I spoke
Was Thais, and your lady's name
Hermione — 'tis not the same
Or similar. Had I said Thais,
Whereas your lady-love was Lais,
You might complain of that; beside
You swear your love is not one-eyed!
I called her lover " Quintus" — true:
Let's change to " Sextus" — will that do?

Great are thy gifts and greater yet shall be —
For thou alone, dear Sire, canst conquer thee.
But 'tis not they that our affection move;
It is because of thee thy gifts we love.