Poems by Amelia Opie

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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"While many a fond and blooming maid"

WHILE many a fond and blooming maid

Attempts thy heart to gain;

And, by thy fatal smile betrayed,

Thinks not she strives in vain:

While in those eyes of tender blue

They answering passion see,

And in thy sweet expression view

The charm that conquered me:....

by Amelia Opie

Ode On The Present Times, 27th January 1795

Lo! Winter drives his horrors round;

Wide o'er the rugged soil they fly;

In their cold spells each stream is bound,

While at the magic of their eye

Each sign of Spring's gay beauty fades,

And one white wild the aching sight invades.

It is the time for Woe to reign,

And hark! she bids her haggard train,

by Amelia Opie

"Yes, thou art changed since first we met"

YES, thou art changed since first we met,

But think not I shall e'er regret,

Though never can my heart forget,

The charms that once were thine:

For, Marian, well the cause I know

That stole the lustre from thine eye;

That proved thy beauty's secret foe,

And bade thy bloom and spirits fly:

by Amelia Opie

The Orphan Boy's Tale

Stay, lady, stay, for mercy's sake,

And hear a helpless orphan's tale,

Ah! sure my looks must pity wake,

'Tis want that makes my cheek so pale.

Yet I was once a mother's pride,

And my brave father's hope and joy,

But in the Nile's proud fight he died,

And I am now an orphan boy.

by Amelia Opie

To Lorenzo

Go, distant shores and brighter conquests seek,

But my affection will your scorn survive!

For not from radiant eyes or crimson cheek

My fondness I, or you your power derive;—

Nor sprung the passion from your fancied love;

To me, your smiles no dear delusion caused;

I saw you tower my humble hopes above,

And, ere I loved, I shuddered, trembled, paused.

by Amelia Opie

To Lothario

Think not, Lothario, while I view

The bright expression of thy face,

And on thy cheek of crimson hue

Emotion's varying beauties trace,

That in my heart one feeling dwells,

But what the coldest must approve,

Nor think my conscious bosom swells

With aught resembling secret love.

by Amelia Opie

On the Approach of Autumn

Farewell gay Summer! now the changing wind

That Autumn brings commands thee to retreat;

It fades the roses which thy temples bind,

And the green sandals which adorn thy feet.

Now flies with thee the walk at eventide,

That favouring hour to rapt enthusiasts dear;

When most they love to seek the mountain side,

And mark the pomp of twilight hastening near.

by Amelia Opie

To Anna

This faded lip may oft to thee

As gay a smile, my Anna, wear,

As when in youth, from sorrow free,

I only shed the transient tear.

And oft chill Autumn's varying day,

Resembles April's genial hours;

And glitters with the noontide ray,

Though oftener dark with clouds and showers.

by Amelia Opie

The Warrior's Return

Sir Walter returned from the far Holy Land,

And a blood-tinctured falchion he bore;

But such precious blood as now darkened his sword

Had never distained it before.

Fast fluttered his heart as his own castle towers

He saw on the mountain's green height;

"My wife, and my son!" he exclaimed, while his tears

Obscured for some moments his sight.

by Amelia Opie

Julia, or the Convent of St Claire

Stranger, that massy, mouldering pile,

Whose ivied ruins load the ground,

Reechoed once to pious strains

By holy sisters breathed around.

There many a noble virgin came

To bid the world she loved….adieu;

There, victim of parental pride,

To years of hopeless grief withdrew.

by Amelia Opie

The Moon and the Comet

This fact is clear….Both man and woman

Prize not what's good, but what's uncommon ;

And most delighted still they are,

Not with the excellent, but rare,….

I could of this give proofs most stable,

But, par exemple , take a fable.

'T was night….but still a mimic day

Shone softly forth from milky way;

by Amelia Opie

To Laura

Cease, Laura, cease, suspect no more

This careless heart has learnt to love,

Because on yonder lonely shore

I still at pensive evening rove;

Because of Henry's worth I speak

With eager warmth and sparkling eye;

Because his favourite haunts I seek,

And still o'erjoyed to meet him fly:….

by Amelia Opie