A MEMORY-PICTURE
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augh, my friends, and without blameLightly quit what lightly came;Rich to-morrow as to-day,Spend as madly as you may!I, with little land to stir,Am the exacter labourer.Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Once I said: "A face is goneIf too hotly mused upon;And our best impressions areThose that do themselves repair."Many a face I so let flee,Ah! is faded utterly.Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Marguerite says: "As last year went,So the coming year'll be spent;Some day next year, I shall be,Entering heedless, kiss'd by thee."Ah, I hope!--yet, once away,What may chain us, who can say?Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint that lilac kerchief, boundHer soft face, her hair around;Tied under the archest chinMockery ever ambush'd in.Let the fluttering fringes streakAll her pale, sweet-rounded cheek.Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint that figure's pliant graceAs she tow'rd me lean'd her face,Half refused and half resign'd,Murmuring: "Art thou still unkind?"Many a broken promise thenWas new made--to break again.Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint those eyes, so blue, so kind,Eager tell-tales of her mind;Paint, with their impetuous stressOf inquiring tenderness,Those frank eyes, where deep I seeAn angelic gravity.Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory! What, my friends, these feeble linesShow, you say, my love declines?To paint ill as I have done,Proves forgetfulness begun?Time's gay minions, pleased you see,Time, your master, governs me;Pleased, you mock the fruitless cry:"Quick, thy tablets, Memory!" Ah, too true! Time's current strongLeaves us fixt to nothing long.Yet, if little stays with man,Ah, retain we all we can!If the clear impression dies,Ah, the dim remembrance prize!Ere the parting hour go by,Quick, thy tablets, Memory!
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