Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By Anne BullenRufus Dawes (18031859)
I
Thou pictured history of woman’s love,
Joy spreads his beaming pinions on thy cheek
Shaming its whiteness, and thine eyes are full
Of conscious beauty while they undulate.
Yet all thy beauty—all thy gentleness
Served but to light thy ruin. Is there not
Kind heaven! some secret talisman of hearts
Whereby to find a resting-place for love?
Unhappy maiden! let thy history teach
The beautiful and young that when their path
Softens with roses, danger may be there;
That love may watch the bubbles of the stream,
But never trust his image on the wave!