East and west : the discovery of America and other poems

Pleasure has left me,
Happiness gone.
Thou hast bereft me,
I am alone.
Sweetly the summer night
Heard thy farewell;
And the moon's tender light
On thy face fell.

Thou hast betrayed me;
Yet I forgive,
For thou hast made me
Thine while I live.
Though my heart 's broken,
Take thou my last
Sorrowful token
Due to the past.

If it be pleasure
Brightens thy sun,
Let not its measure
Lawlessly run.

Life hath her duties
Stern and unchanged
Moulding her beauties
Sadly estranged.

Think not, thou fair one,
Love hath grown cold.
Still doth he bear one
Thine as of old.
But I shall never
Happiness see
Wedded forever
Lyra, with thee.

Life has grown dreary
Since thou art gone,
Lingering weary,
Hopelessly on.
Ne'er will I blame thee,
Ne'er till I die.
Slander may shame thee,
Never will I.

Dull was my spirit
To thy young breast
Fluttering near it,
Dove, to thy nest.

Was my emotion
Sombre and cold?
Billow of ocean
Hoary and old?

Jollity's glitter
Dazzled thine eye,
Turned from the bitter
Sweetness to try.
One you discover
Fairer to see.
Never a lover
Truer to thee.

Soon shall I moulder
Deep in the grave,
Or in the colder
Tomb of the wave.
Lyra, forget not
Passion so true.
False one, regret not
I bade thee adieu.

University of Virginia Library

REPROACH.