Autograph manuscript of the poem 'To Helena on her Birth day' by the English author Thomas Haynes Bayly, addressed to his wife, and apparently unpublished.

1p., 4to. On laid paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1829'. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Docketed on the reverse 'Bayley [sic] | 1830' and 'By Thomas Haynes Bayly, Poet | Author of "I'd be a butterfly etc etc'. The poem is sixteen lines long, and begins: 'My own Love! my true Love! here's health & joy to you Love, | A happy year without a tear & sweet smiles not a few Love! | Of all my anniversaries, I prize your Birth day best. | And well I may, for 'twas the day that brighten'd all the rest: | To this I owe my bliss below - of more than that, the Love | Whose purity my guide may be to happiness above!' The poem was published in 1829 in the keepsake 'The Casket' (London: John Murray); apart from accidentals, that version corresponds to this. The poem is addressed to Bayly's wife, born Helena Becher Hayes. The couple were married in 1826, and she died in 1867.