Fill for me a brimming bowl
Fill for me a brimming bowlAnd let me in it drown my soul:But put therein some drug, designedTo banish women from my mind:For I want not the stream inspiringThat fills the mind with—fond desiring,But I want as deep a draughtAs e'er from Lethe's wave was quaff'd,From my despairing heart to charmThe Image of the fairest formThat e'er my reveling eyes beheld,That e'er my wandering fancy spell'd.In vain! Away I cannot chaceThe melting softness of that face,The happiness of those bright Eyes,That breast—earth's only Paradise.My sight will never more be blest;For all I see has lost its zest:Nor with delight can I exploreThe classic page, or Muse's loreHad she but known how beat my heart,And with one smile reliev'd its smart,I should have felt a sweet reliefI should have felt "the joy of grief."Yet as a Tuscan mid the snowOf Lapland thinks on sweet Arno,Even so for ever shall she beThe Halo of my Memory.Aug. 1814.
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse