Classic Poem

Gray twilight had begun her dusky reign,
Veiling the glories of the vernal year;
The meads, the groves, the glades, and glitt'ring lawns,
One dark-brown scene of dun disorder lay:
When from the village, his frequented walk,
Pensive and slow, the youthful D AMON stray'd,
Along the windings of his native stream;
Whose drowsy wave, with closing willows crown'd,
Flow'd lazy, murm'ring thro' the misty vale.

His downcast visage, clouded, pale, and wan,
Confess'd a bosom pierc'd with pining woe;
The jocund look, the joyous smile, were fled,
Fled the rapt eye that spoke the social soul:
Silence he-sought — and his woe-deasen'd ear,
Long unaccustom'd to the melting voice
Of mirth and gay festivity, was wont
To court the murmur of the falling stream,
And list attentive to the breeze of eve;
While many a sigh inspir'd his pensive breast,
And many a murmur mutter'd from his tongue,
And ever and anon the big-round drop,
Unconscious, trickled from his tearful eye.

Onward his step had negligently stray'd,
To where the stream with deeper murmur flow'd,
Incessant rushing o'er a pebbly bed.
There the pale gloom, the lonely rolling stream,
The awful horrors of the waving wood,
Inspir'd his soul with a congenial dread,
And rous'd the secret sorrows of his mind:
He stop'd — he gaz'd — he tore his flowing hair,
He bar'd his bosom to the dewy breeze,
And wildly heaving his distemper'd breast,
In woful accent breath'd this mournful tale.
" Forlorn, dejected, hapless, here I roam!
" No friendly hand to guide my wand'ring step,
" No kindly gleam to light my onward way,
" No feeling heart to share my piercing grief,
" Or shed the balm of consolation mild!
" O, silent night! extend thy peaceful gloom;
" Enwrap my musing melancholy head;
" Shade all the horrors of my painful heart,
" And take, O! kindly take, my rising sighs.

" Propitious fortune smil'd not on my birth,
" No lineal honours grac'd my lowly name;
" Remote from greatness and luxurious ease,
" The pomp of grandeur, and the glare of wealth,
" My youth was rear'd in poverty's rude hall,
" And partial nature crown'd my humble lot
" With love alone! — Inspir'd by S YLVIA 's smile,
" In jocund peace my lightsome spirits flow'd,
" Obsequious dancing to the pleasing call
" Of laughing hope, tranquillity, and ease:
" The hours unclouded fled serene away,
" In friendly, social, heart-exulting cheer;
" The blooming, modest, rosy-smiling look;
" The easy, artless, unaffected grace
" Of spotless beauty; the inchanting glance
" Of simple virtue, innocence, and love,
" Shone ever radiant from her lust'rous eye!
" Say then, when prostrate on the humble earth,
" Was e'er, O, heav'n! my voice imploring rais'd
" To thee for honour, wealth, or gaudy fame?
" From my warm heart did e'er one murmur flow,
" 'Gainst the fair form of that unerring law
" Which sways my being with mysterious rule?
" No: rather, did not calm contentment lull
" Each rising wish? or if one wish escap'd,
" Its frail ambition sought no higher boon,
" Than, safely shelter'd in my native vale,
" Remote, obscure, inglorious, and unknown,
" That lasting love might crown my peaceful night,
" And S YLVIA gladden all my days with joy.

" B URST , burst, my heart! — Regardless heav'n, averse,
" Despis'd my humble pray'r! — I see! I see!
" The rose that early blossom'd on her cheek,
" And op'ning promised a future flow'r,
" To smile delightful many a summer sun,
" At guilt's fell touch, all withered and wan,
" Droop it's pale head, and fade away forlorn!

" B UT let me not impiety to guilt
" Presumptuous add, and causeless charge on heav'n
" The wicked purpose and the perverse deed!
" Why should a worm, with daring breath, presume
" To blame the course of ever-mystie pow'rs?
" And prideful swelling on the feeble plume
" Of reptile reason, screen with cobweb veil
" This sacred truth, that Providence is just?
" No; for her pride, that tow'ring soar'd aloft,
" From rugged cave rous'd up the squallid pow'r
" Yclept M ISFORTUNE ; she with frigid touch
" Benumb'd its wings, and roll'd it in the dust!

" B UT why — ah! whither roves licentious thought?
" Still rebel passions rule my madding soul!
" Still strays my heart, as now irrev'rent I
" Fall a false vot'ry at fair virtue's shrine!
" Still, still I love! — tho' ever on my ear,
" Obedient breathing from the hallow'd lip
" Of heav'n-descended Reason, sweetly low,
" These sage dissuasive accents seem to say: —
" Go, take a manly courage to your breast,
" Nor stray sad sorrowing by the lonely stream;
" See Art and Science spread their grateful store,
" And all the muses all their sweets display,
" And court you, beck'ning to their tuneful cell:
" Forego the dear delights of early love,
" Unhallow'd by the fair esteem of virtue;
" And learn that lore divine, the bounteous pow'rs
" Bestow, to bless the fav'rite sons of earth. "

" I COME , ye breathing monitors! I come!
" But, ere I go, permit this tender sigh,
" This swelling tribute of a parting tear:
" The hour will come, when, sunk in silent rest,
" My heart will cease to beat, my eyes to weep,
" And claim the pious drop I now bestow.

" I RAVE , I rave! the doleful hour draws nigh!
" Already dire affliction saps my frame;
" My vitals languish, all my pow'rs decay:
" I'll leave you, S YLVIA ! ne'er remember me;
" Forget, when I ly mould'ring in the grave,
" How much I lov'd thee, or how much I mourn'd,
" In rural ease and calm retirement bless'd,
" Haply some wealthier happier youth may 'enjoy,
" In after-time, what fate denies to me:
" But cease the sigh to heave, the wish to breathe,
" Again to wander thro' the guileful rounds
" Of fashion, folly, vanity, and vice!
" May love, esteem, fair truth, and social joy,
" Attend you peaceful thro' the vale of life;
" May heav'n benignant smile on all your ways,
" And virtue light you blameless to your grave!
" 'Tis there we'll meet: — 'Tis there one common late
" Will mix our bodies in one common dust!
" I go before! — I waste — I die apace!
" Farewel, ye wilds! and thou sequester'd stream,
" Indulgent witness of my woe, farewel!
" And thou, for whom I liv'd, for whom I die,
" S YLVIA ! farewel; and all the world, adieu!"