AMORET
by: Mark Akenside (1721-1770)
- F rightly
tuneful bards decide,
- If it be fix'd in Love's decrees,
- That Beauty ought not to be tried
- But by its native power to please,
- Then tell me, youths and lovers, tell--
- What fair can Amoret excel?
-
- Beholt that bright unsullied smile,
- And wisdom speaking in her mien:
- Yet--she so artless all the while,
- So little studious to be seen--
- We naught but instant gladness know,
- Nor think to whom the gift we owe.
-
- But neither music, nor the powers
- Of youth and mirth and frolic cheer,
- Add half the sunshine to the hours,
- Or make life's prospect half so clear,
- As memory brings it to the eye
- From scenes where Amoret was by.
-
- This, sure, is Beauty's happiest part;
- This gives the most unbounded sway;
- This shall enchant the subject heart
- When rose and lily fade away;
- And she be still, in spite of Time,
- Sweet Amoret in all her prime.
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