Page:Poems Betham.djvu/30

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16



TO A LLANGOLLEN ROSE, The Day after it had been given by Miss Ponsonby.
Soft blushing flow'r! my bosom grieves,
To view thy sadly drooping leaves:
For, while their tender tints decay,
The rose of Fancy fades away!
As pilgrims, who, with zealous care,
Some little treasur'd relic bear,
To re-assure the doubtful mind,
When pausing memory looks behind;
I, from a more enlighten'd shrine,
Had made this sweet memento mine:
But, lo! its fainting head reclines;
It folds the pallid leaf, and pines,
As mourning the unhapps doom,
Which tears it from so sweet a home!

July 22, 1799.