University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems

by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 


128

OH, LETHE'S STREAM!

I

Oh, Lethe's stream! too tempting fable,
I sigh in vain thy sweets to sip;
I yet might smile, were I but able,
In thy dark wave to bathe my lip.
Oblivion come! each relic stealing,
That mem'ry shrines from thy chill breath—
Say—where shall grief forget the feeling
That wounds her heart?—in death! in death!

II

Oh, Lethe's stream! thy torrent flows not,
To charm the bowl where pleasure dwells;
Oh, Lethe's stream! sad monks repose not
Beside thy brink, in convent cells;
Lift sable cowl—or blooming flowers,
Thou'lt find that mem'ry sighs beneath;
Say—where shall grief forget the bowers
Where she was blest?—in death! in death!