Metrical essays :: :: University of Virginia Library

We meet—but, ah! not thus we met
In past and happier time,
When stars grew bright, and daylight set,
In my own lovely clime:
It was not thus thou gazed'st on me—
Thou wert not silent then:
Such blessed hours as those with thee,
When shall I know again?

116

II

My home! name still most fondly loved—
Well I recal that morn
I left thee, and the friends long proved,
To meet this false one's scorn:
Thou saw'st, thou know'st, how wild I wept—
Each limb in anguish shook;
I kissed my mother as she slept—
But, oh! I dared not look

III

Upon my ag'd and honour'd sire,
Lest in his noble face,
Though sleeping, I should read his ire,
His curse on my disgrace.
It follow'd soon—my mother died—
Died! worn with grief and shame;
And he knelt there, by her dead side,
And cursed my evil name!

117

IV

Yet, yet I live: alas! the pain
Of life, when hope is o'er,
When dark despair o'erclouds the brain,
When hearts may joy no more!
O! thou art kind to look on me
With such contempt and hate;
I have known guilt, deep guilt, for thee—
And shame and woe's my fate!