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The Hope of the World and other poems

by Charles Mackay
Mackay, Charles (1814-1889)

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[section]
  
[dedication]
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THE HOPE OF THE WORLD.
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
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NIENTE SENZA L'AMORE.
 I. 
PART I. THE PRAYER OF ADAM, ALONE IN PARADISE.
 II. 
PART II. THE DREAM OF THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER.
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SACRED MELODIES.
 I. 
I. “AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT!”
 II. 
II. WEEPING FOR THE DEAD.
 III. 
III. THE DOVE OF NOAH.
 IV. 
IV. REPENTANCE.
 V. 
V. RESIGNATION.
 VI. 
VI. MARINERS' PRAYER,
 VIII. 
VIII. SAUL AND DAVID.
 IX. 
IX. OUR SAVIOUR'S LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM.
 X. 
X. GOD IN THE STORM.
 XI. 
XI. THE INFINITUDE OF MERCY.
 XII. 
XII. THE BOW OF PROMISE.
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REVERIES.
  
TO THE WINDS.
  
THE SEA-SHORE.
  
THE NYMPH OF SOLITUDE.
  
THE WOOD-NYMPH.
  
TO AN EAGLE.
  
NIGHT.
  
THE LARK.
  
THE AUTUMN LEAF.
  
TO ROMANCE.
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SONGS FOR MUSIC.
  
SONG TO THE HARVEST MOON.
  
AMERICAN INDIANS AT THE GRAVES OF THEIR FATHERS.
  
THE ISLE OF TRUTH.
  
THE LAY OF AN EXILE.
  
FAR FROM HOME.
  
THIRTEEN AT TABLE; A VISION OF DEATH.
  
CONSTANCY.
  
THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL TO ENGLAND.
  
THE SCOTTISH EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL TO YARROW.
  
LOVE AMID SORROW.
  
THE WIDOWER TO THE EVENING STAR.
  
MOUNTAIN DEW.
  
SEA SORROW;
  
A SONG FOR A STORMY NIGHT.
  
THE TRUE GENTLEMAN.
  
THE GREENWOOD TREE.
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BALLADS.
  
THE WISHING-GATE.
  
THE MAIDEN OF RHINE.
  
THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN ABROAD.
  
LORENZO.
  
THE TWO VULTURES.
  
THE PILGRIM'S DOG.
  
COUNT CASK-O'-WHISKEY AND HIS THREE HOUSES.

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140

CONSTANCY.

I knew thee in the sunny hour,
When Fortune shed her brightest beam,
And thought, should e'er the tempest lower,
Thy love would wither like a dream.
I deem'd that it was feign'd and cold,
Lured like the rest by Fortune's ray,
Inspired by vanity or gold,
To bloom an hour, then fade away.
But now, when Glory's light hath pass'd,
And grief and sorrow cloud my brow,
When friends have vanish'd in the blast,
Star of my fortunes! where art thou?—
145

Here by my side in sorrow still,
The same as in the prosperous hour,
Striving to heal the bosom's ill—
Oh! this is love—I own its power!
And thou, who canst unchanging rest,
Though Fortune frown, and Hope decline,
Forgive me, if in times more blest,
I dared to doubt a love like thine;
And I will be, whate'er befal,
Unchanging as thou 'st been to me,
And tell, and proudly tell, to all,
One proof of woman's constancy!
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