Julia! since far from you I’ve rang’d,
Our souls with fond affection
glow not;
You say ’tis I, not you have
chang’d,
I’d tell you why,—but
yet I know not.
2.
Your polish’d brow, no cares have
crost,
And Julia! we are not much
older,
Since trembling first my heart I lost,
Or told my love with hope,
grown bolder.
3.
Sixteen was then our utmost age,
Two years have lingering pass’d
away, love!
And now new thoughts our minds engage,
At least, I feel disposed
to stray, love!
4.
’Tis I, that am alone to
blame,
I, that am guilty of
love’s treason;
Since your sweet breast, is still the
same,
Caprice must be my only reason.
5.
I do not, love, suspect your truth,
With jealous doubt my bosom
heaves not,
Warm was the passion of my youth,
One trace of dark deceit it
leaves not.
6.
No, no, my flame was not pretended,
For oh! I lov’d
you most sincerely,
And though our dream at last is ended,
My bosom still esteems you
dearly.
7.
No more we meet in yonder bowers,
Perhaps my soul’s too
prone to roving,
But older, firmer hearts than ours,
Have found monotony in loving.
8.
Your cheeks soft bloom is unimpair’d,
Your beauties still are daily
bright’ning,
Your eye for conquest comes prepar’d,
The forge of love’s
resistless lightning.
9.
Arm’d thus to make their bosoms
bleed,
Many will throng to sigh like
me, love,
More constant they may prove indeed,
Fonder alas! they ne’er
can be, love!
* * * *
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