FRAGMENT XXXIV.
APATHY.
“Le repos de l'indifference
Pouroit-il recompenser la porte du plaisir?
Non! aimer, joucir, et soufrir
De l'homme! voila l'existence.”
I
Thou! whom unknown, my suff'ring heart implor'd
To fling thy spell athwart the anguish'd hour,
Spirit of Apathy! unfelt ador'd,
Oh! now I feel, now deprecate thy pow'r.
II
This once too sensate, tender, glowing heart,
I thought could never own thy chilling sway;
Where fester'd late the wound of Sorrow's dart,
Where lately beam'd, oh Joy! thy transient ray.
III
Suspense in all its torturing forms I've known,
And many a tender, many an anxious fear;
And on my lip has died the stifled groan,
And in mine eye has swam the silent tear.
IV
And I have known sweet Friendship's soothing hour,
Perhaps have felt Love's first-born pure delight;
And I have worship'd Fancy's magic pow'r,
And (fond enthusiast!) dared her wildest flight.
V
But now! no raptur'd moment, no soft woe,
Can sublimate the soul or touch the heart;
No more the solemn “joys of grief” bestow,
Or pensive bliss, or gracious pangs impart.
VI
Stagnate each feeling, frozen every sense,
Each fairy thought enrob'd in Languor's stole;
No visionary joy can now dispense,
Or with “an airy nothing” cheer the soul.
