Edward Coate Pinkney (1802-1828). Song. Samuel Kettell, ed. 1829. Specimens of American Poetry

Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.

Song

By Edward Coate Pinkney (1802–1828)


WE break the glass, whose sacred wine
To some beloved health we drain,
Lest future pledges, less divine,
Should e’er the hallow’d toy profane;
And thus I broke a heart that poured	5
Its tide of feeling out for thee,
In draughts, by after-times deplored,
Yet dear to memory.

But still the old impassion’d ways
And habits of my mind remain,	10
And still unhappy light displays
Thine image chamber’d in my brain.
And still it looks as when the hours
Went by like flights of singing birds,
On that soft chain of spoken flowers,	15
And airy gems, thy words.