Still thine own its life retaineth, Still must mine, though bleeding, beat; And the undying thought which paineth Is-that we no more may meet. These are words of deeper sorrow And when thou wouldst solace gather, When her little hands shall press thee, Should her lineaments resemble All my faults perchance thou knowest, Every feeling hath been shaken ; Bows to thee-by thee forsaken, Even my soul forsakes me now: But 'tis done all words are idle- 30 40 50 Fare thee well! thus disunited, Torn from every nearer tie, Sear'd in heart, and lone, and blighted, March 17, 1816. ENDORSEMENT TO THE DEED OF IN THE APRIL OF 1816 A YEAR ago, you swore, fond she! 66 To love, to honour," and so forth: Such was the vow you pledged to me, And here's exactly what 'tis worth. STANZAS TO AUGUSTA I WHEN all around grew drear and dark, II In that deep midnight of the mind, III When fortune changed-and love fled far, Which rose and set not to the last. IV Oh! blest be thine unbroken light! 60 ΙΟ V And when the cloud upon us came, VI Still may thy spirit dwell on mine, And teach it what to brave or brookThere's more in one soft word of thine Than in the world's defied rebuke. VII Thou stood'st, as stands a lovely tree, Its boughs above a monument. VIII 20 The winds might rend-the skies might pour, But there thou wert-and still wouldst be 30 Devoted in the stormiest hour To shed thy weeping leaves o'er me. IX But thou and thine shall know no blight, For Heaven in sunshine will requite X Then let the ties of baffled love Be broken-thine will never break ; Thy heart can feel-but will not move; Thy soul, though soft, will never shake. ΧΙ And these, when all was lost beside, Earth is no desert-ev'n to me. 40 STANZAS TO AUGUSTA I THOUGH the day of my destiny's over, The faults which so many could find; II Then when nature around me is smiling, I do not believe it beguiling, Because it reminds me of thine ; And when winds are at war with the ocean, III Though the rock of my last hope is shiver'd, There is many a pang to pursue me : They may crush, but they shall not contemn; They may torture, but shall not subdue me; 'Tis of thee that I think-not of them. IV Though human, thou didst not deceive me, ΙΟ 20 30 V Yet I blame not the world, nor despise it, If my soul was not fitted to prize it, 'Twas folly not sooner to shun : And if dearly that error hath cost me, And more than I once could foresee, I have found that, whatever it lost me, It could not deprive me of thee. VI From the wreck of the past, which hath perish'd, It hath taught me that what I most cherish'd In the desert a fountain is springing, July 24, 1816. EPISTLE TO AUGUSTA I My sister! my sweet sister! if a name II The first were nothing—had I still the last, Reversed for him our grandsire's fate of yore,- 40 IO |