from The Bijou Literary Annual, 1828
author: By Miss Mitford
source date: 1828
edition published: 20170606
availability: Freely available via a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts

compiled by William Fraser
William Pickering London
1828
pp. 191-192

The Lover's Invocation: Imitated from an Unpublished French Poem

By Miss Mitford

COME night, and spread thy shadowy veil
Across the still too glorious sky!
Come night, dark, silent, misty, pale, —
As best befits a lover's sigh!
Suspend the course of yonder rill
That murmurs o'er the mossy ground;
My Julia comes — be still! be still!
For love will fly the lightest sound.

Come night, and wrap in heaviest sleep
The guardian harsh who caused me to woe,
His senses in sweet visions steep,
And laughing lies around him throw!
Oh! be he cradled in such dreams
As poets view with waking eyes!
Prolong the soul enchanting themes,
And charm the doubt that never dies!

Come night! — For see across the green,
Hies with quick step the timid maid —
Hush the soft breeze that lulled the scene,
And bid the silvery moon- beam fade!
For she, that timorous maid, would start
E'en at thy stars' mild lustre, night!
List trembling to her beating heart,
And fly the glow- worm's emerald light.