Date: 1762

"While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole, / And calm Reflexion soothes the pensive Soul; / While Reason undisturb'd asserts her Sway, / And Life’s deceitful Colours fade away: / To Thee! all-conscious Presence! I devote / This peaceful Interval of sober Thought."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"If by the Day's illusive Scenes misled, / My erring Soul from Virtue’s Path has stray'd; / Snar'd by example, or by Passion warm'd, / Some false Delight my giddy Sense has charm'd, / My calmer Thoughts the wretched Choice reprove, / And my best Hopes are center'd in thy Love."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"But ah! how oft' my lawless Passions rove, / And break those awful Precepts I approve!"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Oft' when thy better Spirit's guardian Care / Warn'd my fond Soul to shun the tempting Snare, / My stubborn Will his gentle Aid represt, / And check’d the rising Goodness in my Breast, / Mad with vain Hopes, or urg'd by false Desires, / Still'd his soft Voice, and quench'd his sacred Fires."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"All pow’rful Grace, exert thy gentle Sway, / And teach my rebel Passions to obey: / Lest lurking Folly with insidious Art / Regain my volatile inconstant Heart."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"But long e'er Paphos rose, or Poet sung, / In heav'nly Breasts the sacred Passion sprung: / The same bright Flames in raptur'd Seraphs glow, / As warm consenting Tempers here below.

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

Friendship her soft harmonious Touch affords, / And gently strikes the sympathetic Chords, / Th' agreeing Notes in social Measures roll, / And the sweet Concert flows from Soul to Soul."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Where, to the Beam of intellectual Day, / The genuine Charms of moral Beauty play: / With pleasing Force the strong Attractions move / Each finer Sense, and tune it into Love."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Unreal Fantoms, empty void of Pow’r, / Borne on the fleeting Pinions of an Hour! / Desert in Death the disappointed Mind, / Nor leave a Trace of Happiness behind!"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Pure from th' eternal Source of Being came / That Ray divine that lights the human Frame: / Yet oft, forgetful of it's heavenly Birth, / It sinks obscur'd beneath the Weight of the Earth: / Mechanic Pow'rs retard it's Flight, and hence / The Storms of Passion, and the Clouds of Sense: / 'Tis Lif...

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)