University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems by the late Hon. William R. Spencer

A New Edition with Corrections and Additions; To Which is Prefixed A Biographical Memoir by the Editor

collapse section
collapse section
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE VISIONARY.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


144

THE VISIONARY.

When midnight o'er the moonless skies
Her pall of transient death has spread,
When mortals sleep, when spectres rise,
And naught is wakeful but the dead!
No bloodless shape my way pursues,
No sheeted ghost my couch annoys,
Visions more sad my fancy views,
Visions of long departed joys!
The shade of youthful hope is there,
That linger'd long, and latest died;
Ambition all dissolved to air,
With phantom honours at her side.
What empty shadows glimmer nigh!
They once were friendship, truth, and love!
Oh, die to thought, to memory die,
Since lifeless to my heart ye prove!