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256

YOU TELL ME THAT MY SMILES ARE LOST.

I

You tell me I no longer boast
The sprightly language once my own;
That all my former smiles are lost,
And all my cheerful spirits flown.

II

You say my songs, in former days,
Were fraught with love and hope united;
But now the subjects of my lays
Are, hope deceived, and passion slighted.

III

It may be so—for fleeting years
The spell from boyhood's dream will sever;
And in a world of smiles and tears
No song of joy can last for ever.

IV

And when I sung of love and hope,
They were the visions of a boy:
Then fancy gives us ample scope
For forming plans of future joy.

V

But riper years too often blight
The opening buds that youth had nourish'd;
Some cold neglect, some cruel slight,
May wound the heart where friendship flourish'd.

VI

When those we long have loved deceive,
We view our loss with vain regret;
Our feelings prompt us to forgive,
Our wound forbids us to forget.
257

VII

And then, though each may meet again,
Though no reproving word be spoken,
Yet every effort will be vain
To join the links by folly broken.

VIII

But sudden wrath cannot remove
The memory of former ties;
And though deceit must weaken love,
It feels acutely ere it dies.
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