THE

LAMENT,

OCCASIONED BY THE UNFORTUNATE ISSUE

OF A

FRIEND'S AMOUR.

Alas! how oft does Goodness wound itself!
And sweet Affection prove the spring of woe.

HOME.

I.

O Thou pale orb, that silent shines,

While care-untroubled mortals sleep! Thou seest a wretch that inly pines,

And wanders here to wail and weep!

With

With woe I nightly vigils keep,

Beneath thy wan unwarming beam; And mourn in lamentation deep,

How life and love are all a dream.

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II.

I joyless view thy rays adorn

The faintly-marked distant hill:
I joyless view thy trembling horn,

Reflected in the gurgling rill:
My fondly-fluttering heart, be still!

Thou busy pow'r, Remembrance, cease!
Ah! must the agonizing thrill

For ever bar returning peace !

III.

No idly-feign'd poetic pains,

My sad, love-lorn lamentings claim; No shepherd's pipe-Arcadian strains;

No fabled tortures, quaint and tame: The plighted faith ; the mutual flame;

The oft attested pow’rs above; The promis’d Father's tender name ;

These were the pledges of my love!

IV.

Encircl'd in her clasping arms,

How have the raptur'd moments flown! How have I wish'd for fortune's charms,

For her dear sake, and her's alone! And must I think it! is she gone,

My secret heart's exulting boast ? And does she heedless hear my groan ?

And is she ever, ever lost?

V.

Oh! can she bear so base a heart,

So lost to honour, lost to truth, As from the fondest lover part,

The plighted husband of her youth! Alas! life's path may be unsmooth !

Her way may lie thro' rough distress! Then, who her pangs and pains will soothe,

Her sorrows share, and make them less ?

VI.

Ye winged hours that o'er us past,

Enraptur'd more, the more enjoy'd,
Your dear remembrance in my breast,
My fondly-treasur'd thoughts employ'd.

That

That breast, how dreary now, and void,

For her too scanty once of room! Ev'n ev'ry ray of hope destroy'd,

And not a wish to gild the gloom!

VII.

The morn that warns th' approaching day,

Awakes me up to toil and wo I see the hours in long array,

That I must suffer, lingering, slow. Full many a pang, and many a throe,

Keen recollection's direful train, Must wring my soul, ere Phoebus, low,

Shall kiss the distant, western main.

VIII.

And when my nightly couch I try,

Sore-harrass'd out with care and grief, My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye,

, Keep watchings with the nightly thief: Or if I slumber, fancy, chief,

Reigns haggard-wild, in sore affright: Ev'n day, all-bitter, brings relies,

From such a horror-breathing night.

IX.

0! 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.

X.

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,