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Literary Gazette, 7th September, 1822, Page 569
ORIGINAL POETRY.
POETICAL SKETCHES.
Third Series — Sketch the First.
THE MINE.
Alas, the strange varieties of life!
We live 'mid perils and pleasures, like
Characters 'graven on the sand, or hues
Colouring the rainbow. Wild as a sick fancy
And changeful as a maiden, is this dream,
This brief dream on earth - - - -
Their doom was misery.
They were two lovers.—Oh how much is said
In that brief phrase; how much of happiness,
Of all that makes life precious, is summed up
In telling they were lovers! In this world,
In all its many pleasures, all its dreams
Of riches, fame, ambition, there is nought
That sheds the light of young and passionate love.
Ah, its first sigh is worth all else on earth:
That sigh may be most fugitive, may leave
A burning, broken, or a withered heart;
It may know many sorrows, may be crost
With many cares, and all its joys may be
But rainbow glimpses seen in clouds; yet still
That sigh breathes paradise—Love! thou hast been
Our ruin and our heaven! Well, they loved—
Olave and his Elore; from infancy
They had been playmates, and they ever were
Each other's shadow; but when woman's blush
Came o'er the cheek, and woman's tenderness
Shaded Elore's blue eyes, then Olave's heart
Caught deeper feeling. It was just the time
When soft vows have been breathed, and answered
By blushes, gentle sighs, the eloquent signs
Of maiden bashfulness and maiden love,
And Olave knew he was beloved, that when
The fresh spring leaves were on the firs, Elore
Would be his own indeed. 'Tis a sweet time,
This season of young passion's happiness!
The spirit revels in delicious dreams;
The future is so beautiful, for hope
Is then all powerful. They would often sit
For hours by their bright hearth, and tell old tales
Of love, true as their own—or talk of days
Of quiet joy to come. And when the Spring
Smiled in green beauty, they would sweetly roam
