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Rough Sketches of Bath, and Other Poems

By Thomas Bayly ... Fifth Edition, with Additions
 
 

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94

FAREWELL.

Farewell to thee,—maid of my heart,—
Dear Ellen, for ever adieu;
Oh! may you ne'er suffer the pangs you impart
To a bosom devoted to you.
Farewell! could my wishes prevail,
Alas! they would prompt me to stay;
But you have decreed it—you wish for the gale
Which must waft me for ever away.
You say, when you wish me removed,
That absence my sorrows will heal;
Ah! this is a proof that you never have loved.
Or felt the sensations I feel.

101

Had you loved—you would surely have found
That absence but strengthens the chain:
Though far from the shaft that inflicted a wound,
Say—does not the venom remain?
You would know that the victim of love
No respite from sorrow can find;
His form to a far distant country may rove,
But he leaves his affections behind.
It is not a place or a scene
Can constitute pleasure alone;
The heart must bear with it a comfort within,
And a blissful abode of its own.