LINES UPON SEEING ——

Gorgeous and splendid was the sight;

From myriad lamps a fairy light

Enshrin'd in wreaths the Gothic wall,

And heav'nly music fill'd the hall!

But there was one — ( alas! that I

Had ever seen ) — the melody

Her voice surpassed, and brighter far

Her eyes than ev'ry mimic star!

I gaz'd, until, oh! thought divine!

I fancied she I saw was mine;

But soon the beauteous vision flew —

The stranger-form I lov'd withdrew.

Yet still she lives within my breast,

There mem'ry has her form imprest:—

Thus, when some minstrel's strain is done,

Sounds seem to breathe, for ever gone!