Poem by Mary Robinson

To the Myrtle

UNFADING branch of verdant hue,
In modest sweetness drest,
Shake off thy pearly tears of dew,
And decorate my breast. 

Dear emblem of the constant mind,
Truth’s consecrated tree,
Still shall thy trembling blossoms find
A faithful friend in me. 

Nor chilling breeze, nor drizzling rain
Thy glossy leaves can spoil,
Their sober beauties fresh remain
In every varying soil. 

If e’er this aching heart of mine
A wand’ring thought should prove;
O, let thy branches round it twine,
And bind it fast to Love. 

For ah ! the little fluttering thing,
Amidst LIFE’S tempest rude;
Has felt Affliction’s sharpest sting,
YET TRIUMPHS UNSUBDUED. 

Like THEE it braves the wintry wind,
And mocks the storm’s fierce pow’r,
Tho’ from its HOPES the blast unkind,
Has torn each promis’d flow’r. 

Tho’ round its fibres barb’rous fate
Has twin’d an icy spell;
Still in its central fires elate,
The purest passions dwell. 

When LIFE’S disast’rous scene is fled,
This humble boon I crave;
Oh! bind your branches round my head,
AND BLOSSOM ON MY GRAVE.

1. Sonnet 41. Yes, I Will Go
2. Sonnet 40. On the Low Margin
3. Stanzas Written under an Oak in Windsor Forest
4. Male Fashions for 1799
5. Sonnet 4. Why, When I Gaze

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