L-F Lt. 27 DEC 1827

O what emotion late I felt

To see my rose in Catherine = s belt-

To view the emblem love prefers

So near that gentle heart of hers!

Twas treminlously dear to gaze

Upon her beauty = s seraph rays,

And deem the charms of heavenly birth

Touched with the sweetest tinge of earth,

And therefore that her bosom chose

For its device to wear the rose.

But soon electric fancies came

Across my breast like withering flame,

To think the soul-entrancing power,

Which makes an emblem of that flower,

When therein would have no part

Should plant its red roses in her heart.

Decr 27th 1827

C. C. Lee scrpt