Cling not to Earth

“Cling not to earth—there’s nothing there,

However loved, however fair,

But on its features still must wear

     The impress of mortality.

Cling not to earth—as well we may

Trust Asia’s serpents wanton play

That glitters only to betray

   To death or else to misery.

Dream not of friendship—there may be

A word, a smile, a grasp for thee

But wait the hour of need and see

     But wonder not, their fallacy.

Think not of Beauty—like the rest

It bears a lustre on its crest—

But short the time ere stands confest

     Its falsehood or its frailty.

Then cling no more so fondly on

The flowers of earth around thee strewn

They’ll do awhile to sport upon

     But not to love so fervently”

New London, February 9, 1828         Elizabeth

Accomplishments amuse an hour; but mind furnishes a perpetual regale.                                       Geraldine

Oft pining cares in rich brocades are drest

And diamonds glitter on an anxious breast.                     Byron

“O say, hast thou marked that green ivy reaching

In folds round yon oak tree luxuriantly wreath’d

I’ve seen it before just as fondly entwining

And smiling as sweet when the wintry wind breath’d

And e’en when the oak by the lightning extended

Still round it the ivy its tendrils would cast—

Still cling to the arm that its weakness befriended

Nor craven-like shrink from adversity’s blast.

And thus it is ever when hearts are united

By friendship and love: if their thoughts are entwined

If reason presides where affection is plighted

And hallows each feeling that flows from the mind

Then vainly do clouds of misfortune surround them

In vain does adversity—sorrows descend:

The wreath still exists that in brighter day bound them

Forbidding each thought that this union would rend.

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