Miscellaneous poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Soft sleep the moon-beams on the stream;
Light breathes the zephyr through each tree;
Sweet chirps the cricket; all things seem
Attuned to Solitude and me.

Oh! soul-reviving Solitude!
Only by active minds enjoy'd;
Fled by the ignorant and rude,
And by unfeeling mirth destroy'd!

Oh! let me, in the ev'ning shade,
Stray where the solemn night-bird flits;

And where, in sober weeds array'd,
Eagle-ey'd Contemplation sits.

Let her my soaring spirit bear
To the etherial realms above,
To mix with kindred spirits there,
And join their strains of peace and love.

There, friendship, which on earth was pure,
Shall be with double force renew'd;
There, from malignant fiends secure,
'Twill be no crime to love the good.

Few are the moments I can spare,
Mild Solitude, to pass with thee;
Yet few and scanty as they are,
How dear those moments are to me!

Now night her dusky wing has spread,
And half the world is wrapp'd in sleep;
Still as the mansions of the dead,
E'en mis'ry's self forgets to weep.

This hour 's my own, I need not fear
Thou wilt my secret soul betray:
Thy sombre veil conceals the tear,
Which dreads the glaring eye of day.

To thee, my tortur'd soul can own
Its faults, and sue to be forgiv'n;
Kneeling before the awful throne
Of the all-righteous God of heav'n.

God! great as good! and wise as just!
To thee each secret stands reveal'd;

Thou art my hope, in thee I trust,
From thee my heart is not conceal'd.

Oh, shed on my perturbed breast
Thy peace! and grant, forgot by all,
When death shall wrap my soul in rest,
Oblivion's shade may o'er me fall.