For there are woes that wring the breast Sorrows that do not fade with years, Such now as in my bosom swell, Read thou in this wild word,-FAREWELL! H TO A POETICAL FRIEND. Be not over exquisite To cast the fashion of uncertain evils; For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown, And run to meet what he would most avoid? MILTON. I. ALL hail, dear friend!—The winds are singing The year's wild requiem, fitfully; And Autumn, now, is swiftly winging Her golden flight, o'er the heaving sea, To some lovelier clime than this:-in sadness Of heart, I gaze on her farewell beam;— But away! This strain shall be one of gladness! I'll startle thee not with a selfish theme! II. All hail, dear friend !-Though clouds may lour, And wintry storms descend awhile, Ere long shall Spring resume her power, And Summer come on with her radiant smile. Then a truce to gloom ;-though a shade of sorrow III. Shall we, whose hearts of warmth and feeling Supinely grieve, that Fate's hand is stealing IV. Forbid it, YE who prompt the numbers That soothe the Bard in his wildest mood!Forbid it, YE who on his slumbers In dreams of glory and light intrude! No;-hearts that each thrill of joy may waken Should bear, unmurmuring, Sorrow's sting; Nor GENIUS from its height be shaken By every buffet from Fortune's wing! FORGET THEE? NO, NEVER! Wrong thee, Bianca? No, not for the earth! Not for earth's brightest! MILMAN. FORGET thee?—No, never!-Why cherish a thought Forget thee?-No, never!-Among the light-hearted, may sink to decay when the fond ones are parted; But affection like ours is too deep and sublime, To be chilled in its ardour by absence or time; Then, gentle one, banish all doubt from thy breast: By the kiss that so late on thy lips I impressed,By the griefs that have blighted the bloom of my years,— By the hope that still calls forth a smile thro' my tears,— |