Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems By Q. in the Corner [i.e. N. T. H. Bayly] |
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Lines SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY A LADY ON THE DEATH OF AN ONLY DAUGHTER. |
 | Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems |  |
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Lines SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY A LADY ON THE DEATH OF AN ONLY DAUGHTER.
Oh! tell me not to smile again,
Since dear Maria's smiles are o'er;
Oh! tell me not my tears are vain,
For that must make me weep the more.
Since dear Maria's smiles are o'er;
Oh! tell me not my tears are vain,
For that must make me weep the more.
You say that Folly ever rules
In tears and unavailing sighs;—
—If feeling be the badge of fools,
I've no ambition to be wise.
In tears and unavailing sighs;—
—If feeling be the badge of fools,
I've no ambition to be wise.
Go bid the stormy billows cease,
Go chide the whirlwinds of the air;
But never whisper words of peace,
To soothe the sorrows of despair.
Go chide the whirlwinds of the air;
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To soothe the sorrows of despair.
Oh! they are rooted in my heart,
No balm can ever banish them;
The rose once cropt,—no magic art
Can e'er replace it on the stem.
No balm can ever banish them;
The rose once cropt,—no magic art
Can e'er replace it on the stem.
No spell permits us to retread
The paths where youth and pleasure smiled;
No form of words can raise the dead,
Or give me back my only child.
The paths where youth and pleasure smiled;
No form of words can raise the dead,
Or give me back my only child.
Then say no more that tears are vain
To one so desolate and sad;
I ne'er can view her form again,
She died—and yet I am not mad!
To one so desolate and sad;
I ne'er can view her form again,
She died—and yet I am not mad!
107
I am not mad—I yet survive
Through life's drear path to wander on;
But who, alas! would wish to live,
When all we loved on earth are gone?
Through life's drear path to wander on;
But who, alas! would wish to live,
When all we loved on earth are gone?
| Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems | |