Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/125

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She ’tis whose brightness will sustain

Thy spirit though it flag and wane

With weariness, and presently

Shalt thou be dowered and blessed with three

Good gifts, whence those may ever get

Ease, who are caught in my sweet net.

The first of these which solace brings

To those whose hearts endure the stings

Of loving, hight Sweet-Thought, which gives

Blessings untold where Hope still lives.

Whene’er the lover groans and sighs.

As one who ’neath the torture dies,

Sweet-Thought steps in to drive away

His grief, and set in bright array

The longed-for joys of her he,

Dreameth, through Hope, may one day be

His high reward.

Before his eyes

He sees her thousand graces rise:

The rose-red lips whence fragrant breath

Exhales, like waft from thyme-grown heath;

The laughing eyes, the mignon nose

Of perfect form; his being glows

With rapture, while before him pass

Her beauties pictured in the glass

Of memory: o’er and o’er again

Of such sweet solace is he fain,

As dear remembrance of a smile

Or gracious look affords him, while

Recall of some kind welcome given

Transports his soul to highest heaven,