Experience Poem by Charlotte Dacre

Ah! wo the hour when fancy held her sway,
And reason came not with her radiance bright,
When passion flam'd the meteor of the day,
And blinded, not directed, with its light.

Ah! then, unmindful of the vengeful shade,
In dim perspective boding to destroy,
I pleas'd my fancy, and my heart it paid,
Of ev'ry hope, the price for present joy.

For, ah! too soon in sad despair I found
The gem gay sparkling in the fairy night,
When pale Experience shed her beams around,
Appear'd a worthless pebble to the sight—

Which Reason, blushing, felt asham'd to own,
Vex'd to have slumber'd on inactive wing.
But vain regret, nor can the shame atone;
The deed, long past, shall leave a length'ning sting.