S O N N E T S

FROM

PAUL AND VIRGINIA.

BY HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.

SONNET I.

TO LOVE.

Ah Love! ere yet I knew thy fatal power,
Bright glow'd the colour of my youthful days,
As, on the sultry zone, the torrid rays
That paint the broad-leav'd plantain's glofly bower:
Calm was my

bofom as this filent hour,
When o'er the deep, scarce heard, the zephyr ftrays,
Midft the cool tamarinds indolently plays,
Nor from the orange shakes its od'rous flower :
But ah! since Love has all my heart poffeft,
That desolated heart what sorrows tear?
Disturb’d, and wild as ocean's troubled breast,
When the boarse tempest of the night is there !
Yet my complaining spirit alks no rest;
This bleeding bosom cherishes despair.

SONNET II.

TO DISAPPOINTMENT.

Pale Disappointment! at thy freezing name
Chill fears in ev'ry Ibiv'ring vein I prove,

Ι
My finking pulse almost forgets to move,
And life almost forsakes my languid frame:
Yet thee, relentless nymph! no more I blame.
Why do my thoughts midst vain illusions rove?
Why gild the charms of friendlhip and of love
With the warm glow of fancy's purple flame?
When rufling winds have some bright fane o'er-

thrown, Which shone on painted clouds, or seem'd to shine, Shall the fond gazer dream for him alone Those clouds were stable, and at fate repine ? I feel, alas! the fault is all my own, And, ah! the cruel punishment is mine!