When Blooming Youth

When blooming Youth and sprightly Genius die,

Soft Pity drops the tender fruitless tear;

But Hope looks up to fairer scenes on high,

Of happiness unfading and sincere.

That Mira droops, tho’ friendship may deplore,

Hope points her view beyond the bounds of time,

Where Youth and Genius bloom, to fade no more,

In full perfection, in immortal prime.

Text: STE 3/3/6. no. 5 [b], MS, Steele Collection, Angus Library, Regents Park College; also Nonconformist Women Writers, vol. 2 (ed. Julia B. Griffin), p. 182.