54 quotes
Alas! the praise given to the ear
Ne'er was nor e'er can be sincere—
And does but waste away the mind
On which it preys:—in vain
Would they in whom its poison lurks
A worthier state attain.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
I would give worlds, could I believe
One-half that is profess'd me;
Affection! could I think it Thee,
When Flattery has caress'd me.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Oh never another dream can be
Like that early dream of ours,
When the fairy Hope lay down to sleep,
Like a child, among the flowers.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Now
I have no hope that does not dream for thee;
I have no joy that is not shared by thee;
I have no fear that does not dread for thee.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Sketches indeed, from that most passionate page,
A woman's heart, of feelings, thoughts, that make
The atmosphere in which her spirit moves
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
The bard, the warrior, and the sage,
What win they but one lying page,
Where deeds and words, at hazard thrown,
May be or may not be their own?
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
I am vain—praise is opium, and the lip
Cannot resist the fascinating draught,
Though knowing its excitement is a fraud—
Delirious—a mockery of fame.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Blue hyacinths!
Oh, do not show them me; they fill my eyes
With tears too soft for such a scene as this.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Another year, another year,—
Alas! and must it be
That Time's most dark and weary wheel
Must turn again for me?
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
I am spectator, not partaker, here.
To me it seems more like a pageant made
To represent mirth, than the mirth itself.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
Alas!
We give our destiny from our own hands,
And trust to those most frail of all frail things,
The chances of humanity.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
I may be kind,
And meet with kindness, yet be lonely still;
For gratitude is not companionship.—
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
But song has touch'd my lips with fire,
And made my heart a shrine;
For what, although alloy'd, debased,
Is in itself divine.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
A story from the stars; or rather one
Of starry fable from the olden time,
When young Imagination was as fresh
As the fair world it peopled with itself.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
The heart hath its mystery, and who may reveal it,
Or who ever read in the depths of their own? —
How much, we never may speak of, yet feel it,
But, even in feeling it, know it unknown!
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
IT is in this we differ; I would seek
To blend my very being into thine—
I'm even jealous of thy memory:
I wish our childhood had been pass'd together.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
I am a woman:—tell me not of fame.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
But o'er CYRENE'S cheek the rose,
Like moon-touch'd water, ebbs and flows;
And eyes that droop like Summer flowers
Told they could change with shine and showers.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
'Tis well: the rack, the chain, the wheel,
Far better had'st thou proved;
Ev'n I could almost pity feel,
For thou art not beloved.
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
'Tis this which makes
The best assurance of our promised heaven:
This triumph intellect has over death—
Our words yet live on others' lips; our thoughts
Actuate others. Can that man be dead
Whose spiritual influence is upon his kind?
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)