My Boy Tammy (1804-1819)/Virtue only in the Mind

Virtue only in the Mind.

STRANGER think me not too bold,
Judge with candour of my youth;
Ere this curtain I unfold
Listen to a simple truth.

The heart alone is worth a thought;
Features boast no real worth;
Beauty may be sold or bought;
True merit in the mind has birth.

Yet think not, stranger. I would say,
Mine are features form'd to please;
I haste to chace the thought away,
By simply showing such as these.

FINIS.