Poems by James G. Percival (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1821 Excerpt: ...I seek to cool my parch'd thirst, but iu vain, The unpitying fiend no respite will allow--My life consumes within me with a slow, Delirious fevtr--in a heavy chain Depression fetters all my hopes--again No days in love and innocence shall flow. We might have heen--that is the maddening thought, Which gnaws my heart untiring--I have tbrown The jewel of my life away--I sought Bliss high and perfect; but the prize has flown, And I must grope in darkness, till I fall, Aud slumher in the grave, that sbrouds my he-ing's all. XVII. TO THE PIANO. 25 SVVE"ET instrument--whose mellow voice is flowing, From yonder silken canopy, in waves Canorous, like the hidden stream, that laves Its grassy hanks, where eglantines are blowing, And, arching o'er the waters, deeply glowing; And as the music murmurs in my ear, The days of long-lost happiness appear, When, early life its dearest gifts hestowing, I glided smootbly down the sunny stream, Aud dreaming ey'd the oft-reflected heam, That o'er the crisping waters gaily sparkled, And breath'd the scent of blossoms from the hank, Where bloomy sbrubs the flowing crystal drank; And where heneath the plane its bosom darkled, I rested on my oar, and hear'd a sound, Tender and sweetly modulate, that fill'd The thicket with its echoes, far around Unnumher'd voices whisper'd from the wild, The zephyr droop'd his wings, the clear wave smilM, And nature seem'd as hy enchantment tbrill'd. There was a form, who breath'd that melting tone; She sat heneath the branches, and she tbrew Her fairy fingers o'er her keys, and drew The essence of their melody--alone She sat, and seem'd enamour'd of her strain, And now she ey'd her notes, and then again Lifted her brow to heaven--and oh what pure, Exalted harmony breath'd from that face, The l...