The Poetical Works of David Macbeth Moir :: :: University of Virginia Library

Well—though the clouds of sorrow haste,
With dark'ning gloom, and threat'ning roll,
To blight existence to a waste,
And shut out sunshine from my soul,
Departed Inez! rather far
My musing thought would dwell on thee,
Than join the mirthful, and the jar
Of voices loud, and spirits free.

II

Sad alteration!—here alone,
Where we so oft together sate,
With hearts, where Love's commingling tone
Had link'd us to one mutual fate,
I gaze around me—where art thou,
Whose glance was sunshine to the spot?
These roses bloom'd, as they bloom now,
But thou art—where I see thee not!

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III

Oh! nevermore—oh! nevermore
This earth again shall smile for me!
I'll listen to the tempest's roar,
Or gaze along the stormy sea.
And from the sunshine I will hide;
But, as the moon in silver gleams,
I'll lean me o'er the vessel's side,
And see thee in my waking dreams.

IV

Then welcome be the doom that calls
To foreign climes my wandering way;
These echoing walks, and empty halls,—
The bloomy lilac on its spray,—
The lily in its innocence,—
The fleur-de-lis with purple vest,—
Pine for thee, vanish'd far from hence,
Removed from earth, and laid to rest.

V

Oh! do not breathe on Inez' lute—
'Twould make her vanish'd form appear,
Since Inez' breathing now is mute—
Since Inez' voice I cannot hear.
All music, and all melody,
The azure stream, and leafy tree,
The glories of the earth and sky
Are stripp'd of half their charms for me!

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VI

Then welcome be the flapping sail,
And welcome be the stormy main,
And never may the breezes fail,
But when they bring us back again:
And I will wander o'er the deep,
And brave the tempest's threat'ning harms,
Since not a shore to which we sweep
To me can proffer Inez' arms!

VII

Oh! Inez, ever lost and dear,
Soon come the day, and come it must,
When I shall seek thy happier sphere,
And leave this perishable dust.
Then grief shall flee my troubled eyes,
And gloom forsake my drooping heart,
And through the fields of paradise
We two shall roam, and never part.