A Hebrew Song

Miss Vardill

Paraphrased

Thy gaze and thy approach I shun,
 Tho’ gladden’d in thy sight,
As lilies droop before the sun
 Yet live upon his light.

The nightingale in Sharon’s bow’r
 Is silent when he glows,
Tho’ to his life-diffusing pow’r
 Her summer-song she owes:

The palm, Samaria’s purple pride,
 Unfolds its nectar’d fruit,
But deep in darkness strives to hide
 The tendrils of its root:

Thus maiden Beauty shuns the gaze
 Which all its triumph brings;
Thus Love its glowing tribute pays
 But shews not whence it springs.

For a member of Positive House
March 10th