The Power of Solitude/A character
A CHARACTER.
Seen in bright vision on the picturing eye,Lo! lovely Laura smiles, and passes by;What strong dominion holds the female mind,Where sense and sweetness blend their powers refined,When modest truth in wit's fine polish glows,And reason sanctions all the lips disclose.Yet brighter merit crowns this peerless maid,Courted by all, herself who courts the shade;While from her eyes heaven's mildest feelings speak,No conscious triumph marks her blushing cheek; Artless, yet quick, she wins by native ease,Blest in the power, with scarce the hope, to please:In judgment clear, in conduct calmly wise,Her flashes startle, but no victim dies;Too great for conquest, for deceit too pure,Her temper mellows, what her charms secure:Yet tho by all admired, esteemed, carest,Scarce more in genius, than in prudence blest,Content in nature's humbler paths to rove,In mein a Pallas, and in heart a Love.
There are, whose beauties, lit by passion, glarePortentous meteors in the troubled air,Versed in deceit, who rule with high disdain,And meanly triumph o'er the heart they gain;Poor is the wretch, that knows no nobler sway,Than fools may flatter, and gallants obey:The gentler Laura seeks no coquet's artTo fix her empire o'er the raptured heart, Love, feeling, nature, flow in every smile,Grace without trick, and pleasure without guile:Like some fair flower, that, sheltered from the storm,Expands in lucid life its modest form,Still, as we gaze, unnumbered beauties rise,New wonders brighten, and new charms surprise.