Newman Reader - Verses on Various Occasions

12. Opusculum
For a very small Album

{38}
FAIR Cousin, thy page

is small to encage

the thoughts which engage

the mind of a sage,

such as I am;

'Twere in teaspoon to take

the whole Genevese lake,

or a lap-dog to make

the white Elephant sac-

-red in Siam.

Yet inadequate though

to the terms strange and so-

-lemn that figure in po-

-lysyllabical row

in a treatise; {39}

Still, true words and plain,

of the heart, not the brain,

in affectionate strain,

this book to contain

very meet is.

So I promise to be

a good Cousin to thee,

and to keep safe the se-

-cret I heard, although e-

-v'ry one know it;

With a lyrical air

my kind thoughts I would dare,

and offer whate'er

beseems the news, were

I a poet.

Brighton.
April, 1829