The Time I've Lost In Wooing.

The time I've lost in wooing,     In watching and pursuing         The light, that lies         In woman's eyes,     Has been my heart's undoing.     Tho' Wisdom oft has sought me,     I scorned the lore she brought me,         My only books         Were woman's looks,     And folly's all they've taught me.     Her smile when Beauty granted,     I hung with gaze enchanted,         Like him the Sprite,[1]         Whom maids by night     Oft meet in glen that's haunted.     Like him, too, Beauty won me,     But while her eyes were on me,         If once their ray         Was turned away,     O! winds could not outrun me.     And are those follies going?     And is my proud heart growing         Too cold or wise         For brilliant eyes     Again to set it glowing?     No, vain, alas! the endeavor     From bonds so sweet to sever;         Poor Wisdom's chance         Against a glance     Is now as weak as ever.