Classic Poem

Oh once again Tranquillity!
My darksome path illume,
Or must I never, never see
Thy smiles disperse this gloom.

Lo! from the tempest-black'ning sky,
White beams the placid moon;
The clouds before her radiance fly,
Thro' night's obscurest noon.

A transient calm, a moment's peace,
A struggling lucid ray,
Bids the wild winds a while to cease,
And seems to promise day.

Short hope! again the gathering storms
With rage redoubled rise,
And heavy darkness deep deforms
The silvery-gleaming skies.

Alas! even thus there shone for me
A gentle flattering hour,
And soothed, I hailed Tranquillity!
Thy soft restoring power.

Ah hailed in vain! again involved
Fast bound in misery;
By whirling anguish quick revolved
On care's black wheel I fly.

And is there then no place of rest,
Is hope extinct and dead?
Has mercy closed her pitying breast,
And peace for ever fled?

Oh yet return, return once more,
Adored Tranquillity!
This fevered heart to health restore,
Or lull to apathy! —

Object of all my vows! for thee
I left the rose-crowned bands,
That sail on pleasure's silver sea,
Or tread her golden sands.

For thee I sought, mid silent glades,
Deep quiet's lonely bowers;
And hid in melancholy shades,
Consumed the languid hours.

But not for me thy placid smile
Illumined quiet's cell,
And here no dreams the heart beguile
With transient, joyous spell.

The languid hours brought no relief,
Tho' far from crowds and courts,
The care I shunned, the bitter grief,
To me alone resorts.