The few fine flushes of departing day;
O’er the wide water’s deep serene she hung,
And her broad lights on every mountain flung;
When lo! a sudden blast the vessel blew, [f]
And to the surge consign’d the little crew. 
All, all escap’d—­but ere the lover bore
His faint and faded Julia, to the shore,
Her sense had fled!—­Exhausted by the storm,
A fatal trance hang o’er her pallid form;
Her closing eye a trembling lustre fir’d;
’Twas life’s last spark—­it flutter’d and expir’d! 
   The father strew’d his white hairs in the wind,
Call’d on his child—­nor linger’d long behind: 
And Florio liv’d to see the willow wave,
With many an evening-whisper, o’er their grave. 
Yes, Florio liv’d—­and, still of each possest,
The father cherish’d, and the maid caress’d! 
   For ever would the fond enthusiast rove,
With JULIA’S spirit, thro’ the shadowy grove;
Gaze with delight on every scene she plann’d,
Kiss every flowret planted by her hand. 
Ah! still he trac’d her steps along the glade,
When hazy hues and glimmering lights betray’d
Half-viewless forms; still listen’d as the breeze
Heav’d its deep sobs among the aged trees;
And at each pause her melting accents caught,
In sweet delirium of romantic thought! 
Dear was the grot that shunn’d the blaze of day;
She gave its spars to shoot a trembling ray. 
The spring, that bubbled from its inmost cell,
Murmur’d of JULIA’S virtues as it fell;
And o’er the dripping moss, the fretted stone,
In FLORIO’S ear breath’d language not its own. 
Her charm around the enchantress memory threw,
A charm that sooths the mind, and sweetens too! 
   But is Her magic only felt below? 
Say, thro’ what brighter realms she bids it flow;
To what pure beings, in a nobler sphere, [g]
She yields delight but faintly imag’d here: 
All that till now their rapt researches knew,
Not call’d in slow succession to review;
But, as a landscape meets the eye of day,
At once presented to their glad survey! 
   Each scene of bliss reveal’d, since chaos fled,
And dawning light its dazzling glories spread;
Each chain of wonders that sublimely glow’d,
Since first Creation’s choral anthem flow’d;
Each ready flight, at Mercy’s smile divine,
To distant worlds that undiscover’d shine;
Full on her tablet flings its living rays,
And all, combin’d, with blest effulgence blaze. 
   There thy bright train, immortal Friendship, soar;
No more to part, to mingle tears no more! 
And, as the softening hand of Time endears
The joys and sorrows of our infant-years,
So there the soul, releas’d from human strife,
Smiles at the little cares and ills of life;
Its lights and shades, its sunshine and its showers;
As at a dream that charm’d her vacant hours! 
   Oft may the spirits of the dead descend
To watch the silent slumbers of a friend;