Classic Poem

I had a heart that doted once in passion's boundless pain,
And though the tyrant I abjured I could not break his chain;
But now that Fancy's fire is quenched, and ne'er can burn anew,
I've bid to Love for all my life adieu! adieu! adieu!

I've known, if ever mortal knew, the spells of Beauty's thrall,
And, if my song has told them not, my soul has felt them all;
But Passion robs my peace no more, and Beauty's witching sway
Is now to me a star that's fallen — a dream that's passed away.

Hail! welcome tide of life, when no tumultuous billows roll;
How wondrous to myself appears this halcyon calm of soul!
The wearied bird blown o'er the deep would sooner quit its shore
Than I would cross the gulf again that time has brought me o'er.

Why say the Angels feel the flame? O spirits of the skies!
Can love like ours, that dotes on dust, in heavenly bosoms rise?
Ah, no; the hearts that best have felt its power the best can tell
That peace on earth itself begins when Love has bid farewell.