The Time I've Lost in Wooing
The time I've lost in wooing,In watching and pursuingThe light that liesIn woman's eyes,Has been my heart's undoing.Tho' Wisdom oft has sought me,I scorn'd the lore she brought me,My only booksWere women's looks,And folly's all they taught me.
Her smile when Beauty granted,I hung with gaze enchanted,Like him the SpriteWhom maids by nightOft meet in glen that's haunted.Like him, too, Beauty won me;But when the spell was on me,If once their rayWas turn'd away,O! winds could not outrun me.
And are those follies going?And is my proud heart growingToo cold or wiseFor brillant eyesAgain to set it glowing?No -- vain, alas! th' endeavourFrom bonds so sweet to sever: --Poor Wisdom's chanceAgainst a glanceIs now as weak as ever.
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