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Literary Gazette, 19th April 1823, Page 251
I should have prized thy heart, if none
Had ever had that heart but me,—
If I had been the only one,
The first, the last beloved by thee!
Thy hope, thy memory,—the all
Thy wish could pant for or recall!
But mine! mine is a second claim,
Not incense from your earliest sighs;
How can I love or trust the flame
First lighted at another's eyes?
The relics of another's shrine
Are worthless offerings at mine!
Can any love be like first love?
Sweets to the withered rose impart?
Light to yon setting star above?
Then tell me I have all your heart;
Till then, farewell,—I may not bear
Not to possess, but only share.[1]
- ↑ Signature after later poem
