A

YEAR IN CANADA,

AND

OTHER POEMS

By Ann Cuthbert Knight

© Edinburgh: James Ballantyne & Co., 1816

 

THE KEEP-SAKE.


Oh! know’st thou why, to distance driven,
When Friendship weeps the parting hour,
The simplest gift, that moment given,
Long, long retains a magic power?

Still, when it meets the musing view,
5

Can half the theft of time retrieve,
The scenes of former bliss renew,
And bid each dear idea live?

It boots not if the pencill’d rose
Or sever’d ringlet meet the eye,
10

Or India’s sparkling gems enclose
The talisman of sympathy. [Page 121]

“Keep it—yes, keep it for my sake,”—
On Fancy’s ear still peals the sound,
Nor Time the potent charm shall break,
15

Nor loose the spell by Nature bound.

    Canada, 1811 [Page 122]