LOVE AND REASON.
Reading edition
Gentle Lady! thy smile as the starlight is fair, And thine eyes are as charming as ever they were; And thy voice is the same as that love-breathing tone Which once whispered my name in this bower alone; But since then, that sweet voice, in this bower of thine, Hath whispered another's as fondly as mine!
You remember the vow which you made me at eve, When together we swore in one faith to believe; You remember the stars that looked on from above, And how sweetly you called them 'the sentries of love!' Those stars, thou false maiden! were shining that hour, When I heard that strange name in this very same bower!
Perhaps you then thought it a very good game, To sigh to one lover, till the other one came: And now I remember, I once heard you own That you never could sit in this bower alone; 'And so I could not,' quoth the maid, with a sneer, 'So I talked to my parrot, as you were not here!'