When first I saw thee, Marian dear
In all they blaze of beauty gay,
Thou wert to me without a peer
Like the resplendent orb of day!
At thy approaching, nature smiled,
(At least it seemed so to me)
As if thou wert her favorite child,
And all her charms she viewed in thee.
My Marian’s voice amid the grove
Silenced awhile the feathered throng,
They listened to those notes of love,
Then joyful echoed back her song.
And like the listening birds was I,
For soon of love I learned to sing;
But never sought like them to fly
I never plied the truant wing.
Twice seven revolving years have fled
And Marian I’ve been only thine
Her choicest blessings Peace has shed,
Since love and Marian have been mine.
But softer now in lunar light,
My Marian’s matron charms appear
Her babes like sparkling lamps of night,
But Marian’s still without a par.
Constantius 1812