Which cheers the spirit, ere its bark

Puts off into the unknown Dark.

Deserted youth! one thought alone

Shed joy around his soul in death—
That she, whom he for years had known,
And lov'd, and might have call'd his own,

Was safe from this foul midnight's breath,

Safe in her father's princely halls,

Where the cool airs from fountain falls,

Freshly perfum'd by many a brand

Of the sweet wood from India's land,
Were pure as she whose brow they fann'd.

But see who yonder comes by stealth,*
This melancholy bower to seek,

Like a young envoy, sent by Health,

With rosy gifts upon her cheek?

* This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry ;-by Vincentius Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful effect, by Mr. Wilson.

'Tis she-far off, through moonlight dim,

He knew his own betrothed bride,

She, who would rather die with him,

Than live to gain the world beside! — Her arms are round her lover now,

His livid cheek to hers she presses,

And dips, to bind his burning brow,

In the cool lake her loosen'd tresses. Ah! once, how little did he think

An hour would come, when he should shrink

With horror from that dear embrace,

Those gentle arms, that were to him

Holy as is the cradling place

Of Eden's infant cherubim!

And now he yields now turns away,
Shuddering as if the venom lay

All in those proffer'd lips alone

Those lips that, then so fearless grown,

Never until that instant came

Near his unask'd or without shame.

"Oh! let me only breathe the air,

"The blessed air, that's breath'd by thee,