And ah! poor — has felt all this horror,
Full long the fallen victim contended with fate:
10
’Till a destitute outcast abandoned to sorrow,
She sought her babe’s food at her ruiner’s
gate—
Another had charmed the remorseless betrayer,
He turned laughing aside from her moans and her prayer,
She said nothing, but wringing the wet from her hair,
15
Crossed the dark mountain side, though the hour it
was late.
’Twas on the wild height of the dark Penmanmawr,
That the form of the wasted — reclined;
She shrieked to the ravens that croaked from afar,
And she sighed to the gusts of the wild sweeping wind.—
20
I call not yon rocks where the thunder peals rattle,
I call not yon clouds where the elements battle,
But thee, cruel — I call thee unkind!’—
Then she wreathed in her hair the wild flowers of
the mountain,
And deliriously laughing, a garland entwined,
25
She bedewed it with tears, then she hung o’er
the fountain,
And leaving it, cast it a prey to the wind.
‘Ah! go,’ she exclaimed, ’when the
tempest is yelling,
’Tis unkind to be cast on the sea that is swelling,
But I left, a pitiless outcast, my dwelling,
30
My garments are torn, so they say is my mind—’
Not long lived —, but over her grave
Waved the desolate form of a storm-blasted yew,
Around it no demons or ghosts dare to rave,
But spirits of peace steep her slumbers in dew.
35
Then stay thy swift steps mid the dark mountain heather,
Though chill blow the wind and severe is the weather,
For perfidy, traveller! cannot bereave her,
Of the tears, to the tombs of the innocent due.—
JULY, 1810.
4. SONG.
Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour,
Soft Zephyrs breathe gently around,
The anemone’s night-boding flower,
Has sunk its pale head on the ground.
’Tis thus the world’s keenness hath torn,
5
Some mild heart that expands to its blast,
’Tis thus that the wretched forlorn,
Sinks poor and neglected at last.—
The world with its keenness and woe,
Has no charms or attraction for me,
10
Its unkindness with grief has laid low,
The heart which is faithful to thee.
The high trees that wave past the moon,
As I walk in their umbrage with you,
All declare I must part with you soon,
15
All bid you a tender adieu!—
Then [Harriet]! dearest farewell,
You and I love, may ne’er meet again;
These woods and these meadows can tell
How soft and how sweet was the strain.—
20
APRIL, 1810.
5. SONG.
DESPAIR.
Ask not the pallid stranger’s woe,
With beating heart and throbbing breast,
Whose step is faltering, weak, and slow,
As though the body needed rest.—