The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire (1842) - Gredos ...

The Salamanca Corpus: The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire (1842)
On every word that cloth’d her modest thought,
That sweet Expression told the careless heart
Whene’er she spoke she could not speak in vain!
Your eye from her’s would learn a mode of speech
Which, when she pleas’d, could useless make the ear,
[115] .
And ere the sentence left its hallow’d cave,
Would tell what thought was venturing next abroad.
Nor had Disguise in all her face or soul
One place to hide her poor and artful head;
Truth and her train had tenanted each cell,
And honest Friendship at the portal stood
To point or tell you what was done within.
But, ah ! she droops; and I am drooping too!
‘Tis not for me to hold the aching head,
And cordials in my hands and. eyes to bear,
To cheer her longer with a ray of hope,
And promise Ease, that wanders with
To-morrow; To watch the askings of the weary eye,
And ere the wish be form’d the wish foresee;
To me such happiness must ne’er belong!
Myself who tax the tenderness of friends,
And oft require their all-supporting aid,
Else, else this drooping, withering plant had long,
Had long ere this been mouldering in the dust.
O Father of the Universe! ‘tis thou
Who giv’st us life, and health, and joy, and ease;
For these continu d grateful let us be;
If taken from us, let us firm believe
Thy goodness equal in what thou withhold’st,
As in what thou benevolently giv’st;
Let us submit. But oh! if ‘tis thy will
To save my friend, and hold her yet in life,
O God of Heaven! how thankful shall I be.
If not, let me, all humble, strive to yield,
Assur’d that thou hast everlasting store
[116]
Of endless bliss for every soul like her’s;
For true religion purified her heart,—
Ran through the current of her blameless life,
And made it one continued hymn to Thee!