O thou bright queen,
who o’er th’ expanse
Now highest reign’st,
with boundless sway
Oft has thy silent-marking
glance
Observ’d us, fondly-wand’ring,
stray!
The time, unheeded,
sped away,
While love’s luxurious
pulse beat high,
Beneath thy silver-gleaming
ray,
To mark the mutual-kindling
eye.
Oh! scenes in strong
remembrance set!
Scenes, never, never
to return!
Scenes, if in stupor
I forget,
Again I feel, again
I burn!
From ev’ry joy
and pleasure torn,
Life’s weary vale
I’ll wander thro’;
And hopeless, comfortless,
I’ll mourn
A faithless woman’s
broken vow!
Despondency: An Ode
Oppress’d with
grief, oppress’d with care,
A burden more than I
can bear,
I set me down and sigh;
O life! thou art a galling
load,
Along a rough, a weary
road,
To wretches such as
I!
Dim backward as I cast
my view,
What sick’ning
scenes appear!
What sorrows yet may
pierce me through,
Too justly I may fear!
Still caring, despairing,
Must be my bitter doom;
My woes here shall close
ne’er
But with the closing
tomb!
Happy! ye sons of busy
life,
Who, equal to the bustling
strife,
No other view regard!
Ev’n when the
wished end’s denied,
Yet while the busy means
are plied,
They bring their own
reward:
Whilst I, a hope-abandon’d
wight,
Unfitted with an aim,
Meet ev’ry sad
returning night,
And joyless morn the
same!
You, bustling, and justling,
Forget each grief and
pain;
I, listless, yet restless,
Find ev’ry prospect
vain.
How blest the solitary’s
lot,
Who, all-forgetting,
all forgot,
Within his humble cell,
The cavern, wild with
tangling roots,
Sits o’er his
newly gather’d fruits,
Beside his crystal well!
Or haply, to his ev’ning
thought,
By unfrequented stream,
The ways of men are
distant brought,
A faint, collected dream;
While praising, and
raising
His thoughts to heav’n
on high,
As wand’ring,
meand’ring,
He views the solemn
sky.
Than I, no lonely hermit
plac’d
Where never human footstep
trac’d,
Less fit to play the
part,
The lucky moment to
improve,
And just to stop, and
just to move,
With self-respecting
art:
But ah! those pleasures,
loves, and joys,
Which I too keenly taste,
The solitary can despise,
Can want, and yet be
blest!
He needs not, he heeds
not,
Or human love or hate;
Whilst I here must cry
here
At perfidy ingrate!