"She may be mine a little year--ev'n fair
And sweet as now--Oh! respite! while possest
I lose the dismal sense of my despair--
But then--I will not think upon the rest.
"And wherefore grieve to cloud her little day [FN#15]
Of fleeting life?--What doom from power divine
I bear eternal! thoughts of ruth, away!
Wake pretty fly!--and--while thou mayst,--be mine.
"Tho' but an hour--so thou suppli'st thy looms
With shining silk, [FN#16] and in the cruel snare
See'st the fond bird entrapped, but for his plumes
To work thy robes, or twine amidst thy hair."
[FN#15] The ancient Hebrews had no idea of a future state.
[FN#16] I have not been able to discover whether the use of silk was
known at so early a period. It is said to have been sold in Rome for
its weight in gold, and was considered so luxurious an article that
it was considered infamous for a man to appear drest in it. The Roman
Pausanias says that it came from the country of the Seres, a people
of Asiatic Scythia.