Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton Poems

MY heart is like a withered nut,
Rattling within its hollow shell;
You cannot ope my breast, and put
Any thing fresh with it to dwell.
...

YES, I know that you once were my lover,
But that sort of thing has an end,
And though love and its transports are over,
...

SURELY I heard a voice-surely my name
Was breathed in tones familiar to my heart!
I listened-and the low wind stealing came,
...

Love not, love not! ye hapless sons of clay!
Hope's gayest wreaths are made of earthly flowers—
Things that are made to fade and fall away
Ere they have blossom'd for a few short hours.
...

I WAS not false to thee, and yet
My cheek alone looked pale;
My weary eye was dim and wet,
...

I DO not love thee! - no! I do not love thee!
And yet when thou art absent I am sad;
   And envy even the bright blue sky above thee,
Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.
...

MY beautiful! my beautiful! that standest meekly by
With thy proudly arched and glossy neck, and dark and fiery eye;
...

HEAVY is my trembling heart, mine own love, my dearest,
Heavy as the hearts whose love is poured in vain;
...

OH! if the winds could whisper what they hear,
When murmuring round at sunset through the grove;
If words were written on the streamlet clear,
...

WE have been friends together,
In sunshine and in shade;
Since first beneath the chestnut-trees
In infancy we played.
...