When my bright Ellen treads the green,
In all the pride of dress and mien;
Averse to freedom, love, and play,
The dazzling rival of the day:
None other beauty strikes mine eye,
The lilies droop, the roses die.
But when disdaining art the fair,
Assumes a soft engaging air;
Mild as the opening morn of May
Familiar, friendly, free and gay;
The scene improves where’er she goes
More sweetly smile the pink the rose.
Oh lovely maid! propitious hear
Nor seem thy lover insincere
Pity a wild illusive flame,
That varies objects still the same,
And let their very changes prove,
The never-varied force of love.
Valentinian