There, if, oh, gentle Love! I read aright

The utterance that sealed thy sacred bond,

’Twas listening to these accents of delight,

She hid upon his breast those eyes, beyond

Expression’s power to paint, all languishingly fond—

XXIV.

“Flower of my life, so lovely, and so lone!

Whom I would rather in this desert meet,

Scorning, and scorned by fortune’s power, than own

Her pomp and splendours lavished at my feet!