Literary Gazette, 25th January, 1823, page 60
ORIGINAL POETRY.
MEDALLION WAFERS.
[The hint for this series of Poems (to be continued occasionally) has been taken from the account of the Medallion Wafers in the Literary Gazette. These slight things preserve many of the most beautiful forms of antiquity; and they are here devoted to verse, on the supposition that they have been employed as seals to lovers' correspondence.]
INTRODUCTION.
I do so prize the slightest thing
Touched, looked, or breathed upon by thee,
That all or aught which can but bring
One single thought of thine to me,
Is precious as a pilgrim's gift
Upon the shrine he most loves left.
And if, like those charmed caves that weep,
Preserving tears of crystal dew,
My lute's flow has a power to keep
From perishing what it shrines too—
It only shall preserve the things
Bearing the bright print of Love's wings.
