Outlines of Edinburgh, and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Outlines of Edinburgh, and Other Poems

[by N. T. H. Bayly]

Bayly, Thomas Haynes (1797-1839)

[epigraph]

[section]

INTRODUCTORY OUTLINE.

LINES WRITTEN ON LEAVING A WATERING PLACE.

AN ADDRESS,

PŒSTUM.

LINES TO A FRIEND IN AFFLICTION.

TO ANNA

A SEA-SIDE REVERIE.

RETROSPECTION.

SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY ---

WRITTEN WHEN ABSENT FROM ANNA.

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LINES TO A FRIEND IN AFFLICTION.

Let not your spirit be depress'd,
Though sorrow now obscures your way;
Hope must not leave so young a breast,
Hope still may paint a brighter day.

Repeat not now the sad amount
Of pleasures past; that task is vain;
But turn to cheering thoughts, and count
The joys, and friends that yet remain.

Though former dreams of bliss depart,
One pang at least you have not known;
Their loss indeed might wound your heart,
If caus'd by follies of your own.

A youthful soul should ne'er despond,
Grief soon forsakes a guiltless brow;
Be nobly firm; and look beyond
The shadows that surround you now.

Look to the friends whose ardent zeal
The day of trial summons forth;
Look to the friends that warmly feel,
And dry the tears of suffering worth.

As those who guard from rain, and cold,
Some tender plant in wintry hours;
With more than common joy behold,
The beauty of its summer flowers:

So will your friends enraptur'd view
All sorrows from your course remove;
And think each virtue own'd by you,
An overpayment of their love.