Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/593

 WILLIAM COWPER

484 To Mary Unwin

MARY' I want a lyre with other strings, Such aid from Heaven as some have feigned they drew, An eloquence scarce given to mortals, new And undebased by praise of meaner things; That ere through age or woe I shed my wings, I may record thy worth with honour due, In verse as musical as thou art true, And that immortalizes whom it sings. But thou hast little need. There is a Book By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light, On which the eyes of God not rarely look, A chronicle of actions just and bright

There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine;

And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine.

485 My Mary

^HE twentieth year is wellnigh past Since first our sky was overcast; Ah, would that this might be the last!

My Mary!

Thy spirits have a fainter flow, I see thee daily weaker grow; 'Twas my distress that brought thee low,

My Mary!

Thy needles, once a shining store, For my sake restless heretofore, Now rust disused, and shine no more;

My Mary'

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