O! when she knows the purpose I conceal, }
When my fond wishes to her bosom steal, }
How will the angel fear? How will the woman feel? }
“And yet perhaps this instant, while I speak,
She knows the pain I feel, the cure I seek;
Better than I she may my feelings know, 300
And nurse the passion that she dares not show.
She reads the look,—and sure my eyes have shown
To her the power and triumph of her own—
And in maternal love she veils the flame