"To Miss Louise Olivia Hunter" by Edgar Allan Poe

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The picture used is a public domain image of Frances S. Osgood: "Engraved by J. Cheney from a portrait by S. S. Osgood", from her posthumous book Poems (1850), published by Carey & Hart, Philadelphia. Louise Olivia Hunter was an admirer of Osgood, and Poe wrote this poem for her at a Valentine's Day party.

Though I turn, I fly not-
I cannot depart;
I would try, but try not
To release my heart.
And my hopes are dying
While, on dreams relying,
I am spelled by art.

Thus, the bright snake coiling
'Neath the forest tree
Wins the bird, beguiling,
To come down and see:
Like that bird the lover
Round his fate will hover
Till the blow is over
And he sinks-like me.